■! terborough 
 oHIithedral 
 
 The Very Rev. 
 Dean Ingram 
 
 Illustrated by 
 Herbert Rail ton
 
 
 1 
 
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 ^t% 'raW Hoover 
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Gift U.C. Library
 
 Peterborough 
 Cathedral
 
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 Peterborough 
 Cathedral 
 
 'By 
 
 The Very Rev. Wm. 
 Clavell Ingram, d.d. 
 
 Dean of Peterborough 
 
 Illustrated by 
 Herbert Railton 
 
 London : Isbister ^ Co. Ltd. 
 15 y i6 Tavistock Street Covent Garden 
 
 MDCCCXCVIII
 
 15^ 
 
 -pa-^T,^ 
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 IN the case of each of our great cathedrals, 
 there is, generally speaking, some one 
 architectural feature which specially 
 marks it and for the beauty or peculiarity of 
 which it is chiefly celebrated. 
 
 The special feature which thus distin- 
 guishes the Cathedral Church of Peter- 
 borough is no doubt its great west front. 
 This it is that first attracts and arrests the 
 attention of the visitor as he enters the 
 Minster precincts through the arched gate- 
 way leading from the i[uaint old market- 
 place. 
 
 This great facade, unique in its character 
 7 
 
 f:Af;^^i^l
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 and beauty, is, with the exception of the 
 eastern chapel, the latest portion of the 
 glorious Minster. 
 
 It would be almost impossible to exag- 
 gerate its beauty as seen on an autumn 
 evening with the setting sun shining full 
 upon it, revealing all the beauty of its out- 
 line, the loveliness of its proportions, and 
 all the depth and richness of its arches, 
 mouldings, carvings, and statuary. He who 
 sees it thus realises at once the fitness of its 
 ancient name " the Goldenborough," and as 
 he gazes upon the beauty of the scene he 
 instinctively feels convinced of the fact that 
 there must be a great history, a history full 
 of thrilling interest, a history of great and 
 lofty aspirations, of strong and noble self- 
 sacrifice and of deep devotion, a history that 
 led up to, and culminated in, the creation of 
 this marvellously beautiful structure. 
 
 And therefore, before dwelling more fully 
 and in detail upon the beauties of this 
 crowning effort of the great builders of
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 Peterborough, we will go in search of that 
 history, and, passing to the south of the west 
 front, we will seek it in what is now known as 
 the Laurel Court, a large quadrangle, having 
 on the north side the whole length of the 
 nave of the vast Norman church, and on 
 the south, east, and west the remaining traces 
 of the cloisters which formerly surrounded 
 this great square. The windows of these 
 cloisters were, before their destruction by 
 Cromwell, filled, as indeed were all the 
 windows both of the church and the monas- 
 tery, with painted glass. In the windows 
 on the south side of the cloisters were 
 represented scenes from the Old Testament 
 Scriptures, on the east scenes from the life 
 of our Blessed Lord, on the north were 
 depicted figures of the kings from Peada 
 downwards, and on the west the history of 
 the monastery from its first foundation by 
 King Peada to its restoration by King Edgar. 
 In this last-mentioned series of windows 
 there were thirty-six lights, and at the bottom 
 
 9
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 of each light the scene therein depicted was 
 described in verse as follows : — 
 
 King Penda, a Paynim, as writing seyth, 
 Gate yese five children of Christian feyth. 
 
 The noble King Peada, by Gods grace, 
 Was the first founder of this place. 
 
 By Queen Ermenyld had King Wulfere 
 These twey sons that ye see here. 
 
 Wulfade rideth as he was wont 
 Into the forest the hart to hunt. 
 
 Fro all his men Wulfade is gone 
 And suyth himself the hart alone. 
 
 The hart brought Wulfade to a well 
 That was beside Seynt Chaddys celh 
 
 Wulfade askyd of Seynt Chad 
 Where is the hart that me hath lad. 
 
 The hart that hither thee hath brought 
 Is sent by Christ that thee hath bought. 
 
 Wulfade prayed Chad, that ghostly leech, 
 The faith of Christ him for to teach. 
 
 Seynt Chad teacheth Wulfade the feyth, 
 And words of Baptism over him he seyth. 
 lo
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 Seynt Chad devoutly to Mass him dight, 
 And hoseled Wulfadc Christys knight. 
 
 Wulfade wished Seynt Chad that day 
 For his brother Rufine to pray. 
 
 Wulfade told his brother Rufine 
 
 That he was Christned by Chaddys doctrine. 
 
 Rufine to \\'ulfade said again, 
 Christned also would I be fain. 
 
 Wulfade Rufine to Seynt Chad leedeth 
 And Chad with lore of faith him feedeth. 
 
 Rufine is Christned of Seynt Chaddys 
 And Wulfade, his brother, his Godfather is. 
 
 Werbode, steward to King Wulfere 
 Told that his sons Christned were. 
 
 Toward the Chappel Wulfere gan goe 
 By guiding of Werbode, Christys foe. 
 
 Into the Chappel entred the King 
 And found his sons worshipping. 
 
 Wulfere in woodness his sword out drew 
 And both his sons anon he slew. 
 
 King Wulfere with Werbode yoo 
 Burying gave his sons two.
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 Werbode for vengeaunce his own flesh tare, 
 The devil him strangled and away bare. 
 
 Wulfere for sorrow anon was sick, 
 In bed he lay a dead man like. 
 
 Seynt Ermenyld, that blessed Queen, 
 Counselled Wulfere to shrive him clean. 
 
 Wulfere contrite hyed him to Chad 
 As Ermenyld him counselled had. 
 
 Chad bade Wulfere for his sin 
 Abbeys to build his realm within. 
 
 Wulfere in hast performed than 
 Brough that Peada his Brother began. 
 
 Wulfere endued with high devotion 
 
 The Abbey of Brough with great possession. 
 
 The third Brother, King Etheldred, 
 Confirmed both his Brethren's deed. 
 
 Saxulf that here first Abbot was 
 
 For ankerys at Thorney made a place. 
 
 After came Danes and Brough brent 
 And slew the monkys as they went. 
 
 Fourscore years and sixteen 
 
 Stood Brough destroyed by Danes teen.
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 Seynt Athelwold was bidden by Gods lore 
 The Abbey of Brough again to restore. 
 
 Seynt Athelwold to King Edgar went 
 And prayed him to help him in his intent. 
 
 Edgar bade Athelwold the work begin 
 And him to help he would not lyn. 
 
 Thus Edgar and Athelwold restored this place, 
 God save it and keep it for His grace. 
 
 Here we have a very concise history of 
 the first and second Saxon churches, each 
 of which in its time stood upon the site of 
 the present building. But inasmuch as it is 
 the verses only that are preserved to us by 
 the historian, and the painted windows, alas ! 
 no longer exist to illustrate them, the story 
 needs to be told at somewhat greater length. 
 
 The history of the monastery given by 
 Gunton as recorded in "Swapham," by Hugh 
 Candidus, and by Walter of Wittlesea, and 
 others, is briefly somewhat as follows : 
 
 Penda, King of Mercia, had three sons — 
 Peada, Wulfere, and Etheldred ; and two 
 daughters — Kyneburga and Kyneswitha.
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 Penda died about fifty years after the 
 death of St. Augustine, and he was succeeded 
 on the throne of Mercia by his eldest son 
 Peada, who was at that time a Christian. 
 Peada had as his adviser a Christian priest 
 named Saxulf, who afterwards became the 
 first Abbot of Peterborough, and eventually 
 Bishop of Lichfield in succession to St. 
 Chad. By the advice and under the influ- 
 ence of Saxulf, Peada determined to build a 
 church and found a monastery to the glory 
 of God and for the furtherance of the 
 spreading of Christianity in the kingdom of 
 Mercia. 
 
 The spot fixed upon for this purpose was 
 near to a deep pool in the river Nene at the 
 edge of the great marsh or fen, a spot which 
 became known first as Medeshamsted, and 
 afterwards as Peterburgh. 
 
 Here Peada began to build in A.D, 656. 
 His reign, however, lasted but a short time, 
 for four years later his Queen Afleda, " for- 
 getting," as the record says, " the glorious 
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 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 memory of her ancestors — Oswald, the 
 martyred King of Northumberland, her 
 grandfather ; King Oswie, her father ; and 
 King Alhfrid, her brother — betrayed him to 
 death at the Paschal P'east." 
 
 His brother Wiilfere succeeded him in 
 A.D. 660. 
 
 Some years before this Wulfere had been 
 converted to Christianity by the Scottish 
 Bishop Finanus, and had married a Chris- 
 tian wife, Ermenylda, daughter of Egbert, 
 King of Kent ; but under the evil influence 
 of Werbode, his steward, he had lapsed into 
 heathenism. 
 
 King Wulfere had two sons, Wulfade 
 and Rufine, w^hom he had brought up as 
 heathens. At this time Wulfere had a palace, 
 and held his court, at Weedon in Northamp- 
 tonshire. 
 
 Wulfade, his eldest son, was much devoted 
 
 to hunting, and on one occasion outstripping 
 
 all his companions, he had followed a stag 
 
 which eventually took refuge near a cell 
 
 17
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 where St. Chad for the time being had his 
 dwelhng. Near at hand was a well, and in 
 this well St. Chad hid the exhausted heast. 
 Wulfade, coming up, claimed the stag, hen 
 St. Chad replied that he was not a keeper 
 of beasts, but a shepherd of souls ; and he 
 was thus brought into contact with Wulfade, 
 whom he eventually converted to Christianity. 
 Wulfade, like St. Andrew of old, then sought 
 out his brother Rufine, and brought him to 
 the saint, and so to Christ, and the two 
 brothers were baptized by St. Chad at his 
 well, which a tradition has placed south-west 
 of the church which Peada had begun, within 
 what was afterwards the great cloister of the 
 Abbey of Peterborough, and is now known 
 as the Laurel Court. 
 
 We now come, alas ! to a sad story of 
 violence, crime, and bloodshed. 
 
 Wulfere was informed by Werbode, his 
 heathen steward, that his sons had embraced 
 Christianity, and, enraged thereat, he was 
 led by Werbode to a little oratory which 
 
 i8
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 they had built at Weedon. Here he found 
 them at prayers, and with iiis own hand he 
 murdered them both. 
 
 Lut soon afterwards, overwhelmed with 
 the horror of his deed, and lilled with re- 
 morse, he, by the advice of his saintlv wife 
 Ermenylda, sought out St. Chad, confessed 
 his sins, re-embraced Christianity, and was 
 restored to the communion of the Church 
 by St. Chad ; and, as an act of expiation, 
 continued, at the saint's direction, the work 
 of building the monastery at IMedeshamsted 
 which had been begun by his brother Peada. 
 
 From this time Wulfere seems to have 
 had St. Chad as his constant adviser and to 
 have carefully followed his directions, the 
 saint continually encouraging him in the 
 performance of works worthy of repentance. 
 Walter of Wittlesea, a monk of Peterborough 
 and one of the historians of the abbey, tells 
 us that on one occasion "when St. Chad had 
 been praying with the King in his oratory, 
 the office being ended, the saint put off his 
 19 B
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 vestment and hung it on a siuibeani; where 
 it remained suspended. Whereat King Wul- 
 fere was the more confirmed in the Christian 
 faith." 
 
 The two murdered sons, Wulfade and 
 Rufine, were held to have been martyrs for 
 the faith and were eventually canonised. 
 
 On Wulfere's death, he was succeeded by 
 his youngest brother, Etheldred, who, toge- 
 ther with his two sisters, St. Kyneburga (to 
 whom the church of Castor is dedicated) 
 and St. Kyneswitha, completed the monast- 
 ery, which was dedicated to St. Peter, and 
 of which Saxulf became the first abbot. 
 
 This building lasted till A.D. 870, when 
 it was completely destroyed by the Danes, 
 in the time of the seventh abbot, Hedda, 
 who was slain, together with all his monks. 
 The Abbey of Crowland was also partly 
 destroyed at the same time, but some of the 
 monks of Crowland had been more fortunate 
 than their brethren of Peterborough, for they 
 had been able to escape and conceal them- 
 20
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 selves in the fen till the Danes were gone. 
 They then returned to their ruined abbey, 
 elected Godricus as their abbot, and he with 
 some of his community came to Medesham- 
 sted, gathered together the bodies of the 
 slaughtered monks to the number of eighty- 
 four, and gave them Christian burial on St. 
 Cecilia's Day, November 22, 870. He then 
 set up a memorial stone, which is still pre- 
 served in the eastern chapel, and to this 
 stone he and his monks came yearly as long 
 as he lived, to say mass for the repose of the 
 soul of Hedda and his monks. 
 
 In this condition of desolation the monas- 
 tery lay for some ninety years, nothing mark- 
 ing the site on which it once stood, except 
 the stone and cross which Godricus had 
 erected and a few large stones which Peada 
 had brought from the quarries at Barnack, 
 one of which is still to be seen in the church- 
 yard on the north side of the nave of the 
 Cathedral. 
 
 At the end of that time, Athelwold, the
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 Bishop of Winchester, set himself to the 
 rebuilding of the monastery. It is said to 
 have come about in this way. He had a 
 dream in which he was told to go into the 
 " Midland English " and repair the shrine of 
 St. Peter, and, as in the case of Nehemiah 
 of old, an intense desire to rebuild that 
 which had been broken down filled his 
 heart, and, like Nehemiah, he realised that 
 the first step to be taken was to make him- 
 self thoroughly acquainted with the work 
 that had to be done. Following, therefore, 
 the directions given him in his dream, he 
 came to Oundle, believing that to be the 
 place indicated. Here he is said to have 
 had a second dream in which he was directed 
 to follow the course of the river. This he 
 did till he came to Medeshamsted. Here 
 he found the few great stones which have 
 already been mentioned. He at once set 
 about clearing away the rubbish beneath 
 which the foundations were hidden, and 
 havin« laid them bare and satisfied himself
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 that this was the place whicl^. he had been 
 directed to rebuild, he returned to Win- 
 chester to prepare for the work. Again, Hke 
 Nehemiah of old, he prayed that God would 
 touch the heart of the King and move him 
 to help in this great work. Edgar's Queen 
 saw the Bishop at his devotions, and learning 
 the object of his prayers, she brought the 
 matter to the King's knowledge, and moved 
 thereto by her, Edgar and many of his 
 nobles assisted Athelwold in his work, and 
 the church and monastery were rebuilt and 
 completed in a.d. 970. 
 
 The building being finished, it was conse- 
 crated, King Edgar, together with Dunstan 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and Oswald 
 Archbishop of York, and a large body of 
 nobles, being present. 
 
 Edgar restored and confirmed to the 
 monastery all its ancient possessions, and 
 also largely increased them, changed its name 
 from Medeshamsted to Brough, and it hence- 
 forth became known as "Gildenbrough or 
 23
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 Goldenbrough, by reason of its fair building, 
 or in reference to its dedication, Peterbrough." 
 
 At this time Adulphus, King Edgar's 
 Chancellor, having recently been the unin- 
 tentional cause of the death of his own and 
 only son, retired from the world, gave all his 
 wealth to the abbey, and took the habit of a 
 monk, and very shortly afterwards became 
 abbot of the restored monastery. 
 
 This second Saxon church stood for 
 nearly one hundred and fifty years. But in 
 August 1116, John de Sais being then abbot, 
 it was entirely destroyed by fire. The fire 
 is said to have originated in the bakery, but 
 the flames soon spread to all parts of the 
 building, and during the fifteen days the fire 
 lasted, not only were the church and monas- 
 tery consumed, but also the village and 
 buildings which had at this period sprung 
 up outside its gates were all destroyed, and 
 very little was saved beyond the relics, the 
 sacred vessels and vestments, and a few other 
 treasures of the church. 
 24

 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 But great as this disaster was, good was 
 to come out of it, and a far more glorious 
 building than that of Edgar and Athelwold 
 was yet to rise from its ashes. 
 
 The next year Abbot John de Sais began 
 the work of rebuilding the church ; as the 
 Saxon abbots had been succeeded by Nor- 
 mans, so the Saxon church was to be re- 
 placed by the nobler and grander creation 
 of the Norman architect. 
 
 The foundation of the present church was 
 laid in the month of March A.D. 1117, and 
 during the next six years the present choir 
 was built. John de Sais died in A.D. 11 23, 
 and was succeeded by Henri of Anjou, a man 
 of restless and self-seeking character, who 
 for a time hindered rather than advanced the 
 work. After him came Martin de Bee, who 
 carried on the work which John de Sais had 
 so well begun, completed the choir, and 
 added the eastern aisles of the north and 
 south transepts, and so far finished the 
 church that the choir was consecrated in 
 27
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 1 140; and now the monks, twenty-three 
 years after the fire, once more had a temple 
 wherein to worship, far grander and more 
 beautiful than any they had hitherto had or 
 had ever dreamed of. Martin de Bee died 
 in 1 155, and his successor was William de 
 Waterville, under whose rule the work of 
 building was vigorously carried on. The 
 north and south transepts were added, and 
 the great central tower was built. 
 
 In A.D. 1 177, Benedict, Prior of Canter- 
 bury, became abbot, and during the seven- 
 teen years that he governed the monastery 
 the magnificent nave of the church was com- 
 pleted from the central tower to the second 
 bay from the present west wall ; here he no 
 doubt intended to place a Norman west front 
 with two flanking towers. There are still to 
 be seen in the triforium and also in the piers 
 themselves clear indications of this intention. 
 
 The quaint roof of the nave, so far as his 
 building extended, was also no doubt the 
 work of the same period. 
 28
 
 
 J-kV.cJ .p. 
 
 iii^fr
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 Andrew succeeded Benedict in 1194, and 
 ruled for six 3'ears ; it was probably in his 
 time tiiat the last two bays of the nave were 
 added, and the lovely western transepts were 
 built, in which is to be seen in perfection 
 the blending of the two styles of architec- 
 ture as the Norman passes into the Early 
 English. 
 
 Andrew was succeeded in a.d. 1200 by 
 Acarius, Prior of St. Albans. 
 
 The whole church from the choir to the 
 western wall was built between A.D. 11 17 and 
 A.D. 1 199 — that is to say, in eighty-two years 
 — and, with the exception of a few years in 
 the time that Henri of Anjou was abbot, 
 there was no break in the continuity of the 
 work, and .consequently it would be dilKcult 
 to find any building which more beautifully 
 and perfectly illustrates the gradual develop- 
 ment of style from the severe Norman to the 
 delicate Early English. 
 
 Now we come to the question of the west 
 front, the crowning effort of the great 
 31
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 builders of Peterborough. Unique in its 
 character, unrivalled in design, marvellous 
 in detail, in its early perfection it must have 
 been beautiful beyond expression, and indeed 
 it still remains so after upwards of six hun- 
 dred years, for what it has lost of the bloom 
 of youth has been fully compensated for by 
 the greyness of age. 
 
 That it was added to the great church 
 " for glory and for beauty " cannot be 
 doubted, and to attempt to assign to it an 
 utilitarian purpose would be to detract from 
 its merit. It was built with the highest 
 motive and to serve the highest purpose, 
 namely, to beautify the house of God and 
 to do honour to Him, and to Him alone, 
 for even the name of the builder is un- 
 known. 
 
 That it was built between 1200 and 1238 
 there can be no doubt whatever, for the 
 church was completed and consecrated in 
 A.D. 1 238, but during that period no fewer than 
 five abbots governed the monastery, namely, 
 32
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 Acariiis, Robert de Lindsay, Alexander, 
 Martin de Ramsey, and Walter dc St. Ed- 
 munds, each of whom may have had some 
 share in the work. Probably, however, the 
 design was that of Acarius, who became 
 abbot on the death of Andrew, and who 
 had been Prior of St. Albans when John de 
 Cella was abbot there, and from him he 
 may have acquired much knowledge and 
 skill in architecture, and the execution of 
 the design begun by him may have been 
 finally carried out by one or more of his 
 successors. 
 
 The porch or parvise leading to the great 
 west door of the nave, and over which is a 
 large room containing the Cathedral library, 
 was built in between the two great piers of 
 the west front during the latter part of the 
 fourteenth century, and no doubt has served 
 the purpose for which it was probably 
 erected, of adding strength to the piers. 
 
 There is one other feature in the Cathe- 
 dral which calls for a word of explanation. 
 33
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 The windows, originally small Norman 
 windows, have been considerably enlarged 
 since the church was built, and are now 
 filled with Decorated and Perpendicular 
 tracery. This was done in the fourteenth 
 century, and the whole of them were filled 
 with stained glass. All that was left of this 
 glass from its barbarous destruction by 
 Cromwell's soldiers is to be seen in the two 
 central lights of the choir apse. 
 
 The eastern chapel was added during the 
 latter part of the fifteenth century, and was 
 begun by Abbot Richard Ashton, and com- 
 pleted by Abbot Robert Kirkton. It is an 
 extremely beautiful building of the Perpen- 
 dicular period, but its beauties are to be 
 noticed rather in the interior than in the 
 exterior. 
 
 With the early story of the monastery in 
 mind, we will now follow the line of the 
 cloisters, which will bring us to the ruins of 
 the infirmary of the abbey. This was a 
 magnificent Early English building, erected 
 34
 
 I 
 
 
 
 -il^X 
 
 I 
 
 •.;„ H '' ff^ ilsMfen^H : ^'^?^ : fife 
 
 
 
 ," '\ 
 
 
 
 
 irSta
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 by Abbot John de Caleto in 1252, on the 
 south-east of the church. It consisted of 
 dormitories, great hall, chapel, and infir- 
 marer's lodge. Here the aged and iniirni 
 monks spent the few last years of their lives, 
 during which they were permitted certain 
 relaxations of the strict rule of the Order. 
 The infirmary was destroyed by Cromwell's 
 fanatical soldiers, and but little remains of 
 the building beyond the arches of the great 
 hall, parts of its aisles, and portions of the 
 infirmarer's lodge, the hall of which is a 
 most beautiful thirteenth-century room, and 
 now forms part of one of the canons' houses. 
 Leaving the infirmary to the right, we will 
 pass into the church through the small door 
 in the south transept, commonly known as 
 the IVJonks' Door. Inside the church, close 
 to this entrance, on the left, are some steps 
 which lead to an underground passage 
 beneath the south transept. This passage 
 follows the course of the foundations of the 
 second Saxon church, of which wc ha\'c 
 37
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 already spoken as having been built by King 
 Edgar and St. Athelwold in a.d. 970, and 
 which was destroyed by the great hre of 
 A.D. 1116. 
 
 It was here that Hereward the Wake 
 passed his night of prayer and watching 
 before being knighted by his Uncle Brando, 
 the then abbot. 
 
 It is somewhat difficult to understand how 
 Hereward the Wake could have reconciled it 
 with his knightly vows and to his conscience 
 that he was justified in pillaging the monas- 
 tery, as he afterwards did at the head of the 
 Danes in the time of Abbot Thoroldus, his 
 Uncle Brando's successor. The fact that 
 he saved some of the treasures of the abbey 
 from falling into the hands of the Normans 
 served, no doubt, as a convenient excuse, 
 and poor as it was it seems to have been 
 one with which he was easily satisfied. 
 
 Some few years ago, when it was found 
 necessary to take down and rebuild the 
 great central tower of the Cathedral, these 
 38
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 foundations and remains of the old Saxon 
 church were opened out, and upon the floor 
 was discovered a compressed layer of ashes, 
 some inches thick, manifestly the remains of 
 the great fire in which the church was 
 destroyed in A.D. 1116. 
 
 On ascending from thi^ underground 
 passage there are to be noticed three small 
 chapels, whicli form the eastern aisle of the 
 south transept. The first of these to the 
 south is known as the Chapel of St. Kyne- 
 burga, the eldest daughtei of King Penda. 
 It is to her that the church at Castor, as well 
 as this chapel, is dedicated. About the year 
 1000 Abbot Elsinus removed the bodies of 
 St. Kyneburga and her sister, St. Kynes- 
 witha, from the church at Castor, wliere they 
 had been first buried, to Peterborough, and 
 it is possible that they may have been event- 
 ually buried in this chapel, they having been 
 associated with their three brothers, Peada, 
 Wulfere, and Etheldred, in founding the 
 original monastery .j 
 
 41
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 The next chapel — the middle one — is 
 dedicated to St. Benedict, the founder of 
 the Order to which the monastery belonged ; 
 and the third chapel, the one nearest to the 
 choir, is dedicated to St. Oswald. 
 
 It was in this last, before the altar of St. 
 Oswald, that the heart of Abbot Robert 
 Sutton was, by his own direction, buried, he 
 having died abroad in 1274 on his home- 
 ward journey, after attending the Council of 
 Lyons, to which he had been summoned by 
 Pope Gregory X. 
 
 It was also probably here in this chapel, 
 which has always been known as that of St. 
 Oswald, that the renowned relic, " the arm 
 of St. Oswald," was kept. The story of the 
 arm, as told by Gunton, who quotes Bede 
 and others, is as follows : 
 
 ''This Oswald, King of Northumberland, 
 was very free and liberal in giving of alms to 
 the poor ; and one day, whilst he sate at 
 meat, one of his servants told him of a great 
 
 number of poor people come to his gate for 
 42
 
 P e t e r b r LI li h C a t h e d r a 1 
 
 relief. Whereupon, King Oswald sent them 
 meat from his own table, and, there not 
 being enough to serve them all, he caused 
 one of his silver dishes to be cut in pieces 
 and to be distributed amongst the rest. 
 Which Aydanus, a bishop (who came out 
 of Scotland to convert and instruct those 
 northern parts of England), beholdmg, took 
 the King by the right hand, saying, ' Let this 
 hand never wax old or be corrupted,' which 
 came to pass ; for Penda, King of the Mer- 
 cians, being of a fierce nature and wnthal 
 ambitious, made war upon his neighbouring 
 kings, and particularly upon Oswald, King 
 of Northumberland, who was a Christian. 
 Him Penda encountered at Oswaldstreet, 
 now Oswestre, in Shropshire, and there over- 
 threw him, and caused him to be torn in 
 pieces, when some, in remembrance of Bishop 
 Aydan's blessing, preserved his arm. Tliis 
 arm was first deposited at Bamburgh, a 
 religious place in Yorkshire. Walter of 
 Wittlesea writing the story thereof, tells that 
 
 43
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 it was brought to the monastery of Burgh 
 by Winegotus of Bebebersh, but saith not 
 when ; therefore, I cannot conjecture better 
 than that it was by the procurement of 
 Abbot Elsinus about the year 1005, 
 
 " It is said that this arm wrought many 
 cures upon diseased folk, and that it was of 
 such fame in the days of King Stephen, that 
 he himself came to Peterborough purposely 
 for to see it ; and offered his ring to St. 
 Oswald, and also remitted to the monastery 
 the sum of forty marks in which it was in- 
 debted to him." 
 
 So far as can be ascertained there is no 
 record of the arm having been in the first 
 church, but it certainly was in the second 
 Saxon church, that of Edgar and Athelwold, 
 for it was stolen from the church in the raid 
 made upon the monastery by the Danes, led 
 by Hereward the Wake, about the year 
 1070 A.D., during the time of Abbot Tho- 
 roldus, and it was recovered by Prior 
 Adelwoldus, who escaped with it from the 
 44
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 hands of the raiders at night when they had 
 halted and were feasting. It was with other 
 treasures saved from tiie great lire which 
 destroyed the church in A.D. 1116, and it 
 was solemnly replaced in the present church 
 at the consecration of the choir in A.D. 1140 
 by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, in the 
 presence of the Abbots of Ramsey, Crow- 
 land, and Thorney, many nobles, and a vast 
 number of people. Hugh Candidus says 
 that at that time he " saw it, kissed it, 
 handled it." Not long afterwards it was 
 shown by Abbot Martin de Bee to King 
 Stephen, who, as we have already said, came 
 to Peterborough purposely to see it ; some 
 sixty years later it was shown by Abbot 
 Acarius to King John ; and there is a statute 
 of Abbot Walter de St. Edmunds, who 
 governed the monastery from 1233 to 1246, 
 in which it was ordered that the arm of 
 St. Oswald should be carried in solemn 
 procession yearly on the Feast of the Dedi- 
 cation and on the Feast of St. Oswald, 
 
 45
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 August 5. What uhimatcly became of the 
 arm is unknown. 
 
 In the south aisle of the choir, beneath an 
 arch in the north wall of St. Oswald's 
 Chapel, is a grave in which lie three of the 
 great builders of the church — namely. Abbot 
 John de Sais, who was the first builder of 
 the present church ; Abbot Martin de Bee 
 who followed him, and w'ho so far completed 
 the choir that it could be, and was, con- 
 secrated and used for divine service ; and 
 Abbot Andrew, who probably finished the 
 nave and built the western transepts ; and 
 one cannot help feeling that there is a 
 certain fitness in the fact that these men 
 who, in building, so wonderfully worked out 
 one and the same great idea, should, after 
 their labours, rest in one and the same 
 grave. 
 
 Nearly opposite to this grave is a recum- 
 bent figure of Archbishop Magee, whose 
 eloquent voice was so often heard here pro- 
 claiming salvation through Him in the faith 
 46
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 of whom these great builders Uved, worked, 
 and died. 
 
 A Httle farther east, a few feet to the 
 south-west of the high altar, is a spot which 
 recalls some of the saddest of memories and 
 the most pathetic of incidents. Here the 
 body of Mary Queen of Scots lay buried 
 for some five-and-twenty years, till she was 
 removed by order of King James to West- 
 minster Abbey. 
 
 Surely there are few sadder or more 
 pathetic stories than that of the last years of 
 that unhappy Queen, a story so closely con- 
 nected with Peterborough that it may well 
 be shortly told here. On February 7, A.D. 
 1586, the Commissioners appointed to see to 
 the carrying out of her execution, namely 
 John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury and Earl 
 Marshal of England, Henry Gray, Earl of 
 Kent, Thomas Andrews, Sheriff of North- 
 amptonshire, and others, came to Fother- 
 inghay and informed the Queen that her 
 execution had been fixed to take place on 
 48
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 the morrow. In no way dismayed at the 
 cruelty and abruptness of the message, she 
 quietly asked that her confessor might come 
 to her to help her prepare for her end, and, 
 incredible as it seems to be, this request was 
 insultingly refused. The Queen, however, 
 remained quiet and calm ; and, after supper, 
 perused and revised her will, and then at her 
 usual hour she retired to rest. She slept 
 part of the night, and spent the remainder 
 in prayer. Day being come she arose, and 
 having called her servants together, she read 
 over her will to them, and then prepared to 
 meet the Commissioners. Passing from her 
 chamber, with her crucifix in her hand, she 
 showed no sign of sadness till she was 
 touched by the sight of the grief of her 
 servants, whom she endeavoured to comfort 
 with affectionate expressions. 
 
 Meeting the Commissioners in the passage 
 leading to the great hall, she requested that 
 her servants might remain with her to the 
 end ; even this poor consolation was at first 
 
 49
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 cruelly refused her, though the Commis- 
 sioners finally consented to permit six of her 
 attendants to accompany her to the great 
 hall of the castle, where a low scaffold had 
 been erected and hung with black. "This 
 she ascended with much willingness and 
 ease, and took her seat, the Earls of Shrews- 
 bury and Kent standing on her right hand, 
 Mr. Andrews, the Sheriff, on her lef^, and 
 the two executioners opposite before her. 
 Then was the commission read by Beal, 
 clerk of the Council, which she seemed as 
 little to regard as if it had not concerned her 
 at all." 
 
 Dr. Fletcher, Dean of Peterborough, was 
 then desired by the Commissioners to pray, 
 which he did in words which are preserved 
 in Gunton's account, but which are, perhaps, 
 best omitted here. The tone, however, of 
 his prayer may, perhaps, be understood when 
 we say that, a few minutes later, when the 
 executioner held up the poor bleeding head, 
 which he had severed from the body, the 
 50
 
 f' 
 
 
 
 
 -iiX^:' 
 
 
 
 bop^lF^' 
 
 ^U"^ 
 
 t
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 Dean had the heart to cry : " So perish all 
 the Queen's enemies." 
 
 " The Dean having ended his prayer, the 
 two executioners and her women began to 
 disrobe the Queen, whereat she said, with a 
 smiling countenance, that she was never 
 served by such grooms before, nor was she 
 wont to put off her clothes before such a 
 company. Her women, with a ''Corpus 
 Cliristi" cloth, wrapped up three-cornerwise, 
 covered her face ; which done they departed, 
 and the Queen was left alone to close up 
 the tragedy of her life by herself, which she 
 did with her wonted courage and devotion, 
 kneeling upon the cushion, and saying, 
 ' Lord, in Thee have I trusted, let me never 
 be confounded.' Then she groped for the 
 block, where she laid down her head, cry- 
 ing, ' Lord, into Thy hands I commend 
 my spirit ' ; and then the executioner, 
 at two strokes, separated her head from 
 her body, and then, holding up the head, 
 shewed it to the assembly, and Dean 
 52
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 Fletcher cried, * So perish all the Oueen's 
 enemies.' 
 
 *' The body of the Queen was embalmed, 
 and it remained at P'otheringhay until the 
 night of Sunday, the 30th of July following, 
 when it was removed by torchlight from the 
 Castle of Fotheringhay, by Garter King-at- 
 Arms and other heralds, to Peterborough 
 Cathedral, where it was received by the 
 Bishop, Dr. Howland, the Dean, Dr. 
 Fletcher, and others, between one and two 
 o'clock in the morning. The coffin was 
 then placed in a vault prepared for it on the 
 south-west of the high altar, but no service 
 was then said, it being thought good and 
 agreed that this should be done at the day 
 and time of solemnity. 
 
 " Upon Monday, in the afternoon, came 
 to Peterborough, all the lords and ladies 
 and other assistants appointed, and at the 
 Bishop's palace was prepared a great supper 
 for them, where all at one table supped in 
 the great chamber, which was hanged with 
 53
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 black, and where was state set on the right 
 side thereof of purple velvet. 
 
 " Upon Tuesday morning, the first day of 
 August, the chief mourners, lords and ladies, 
 and other assistants being ready, about ten 
 of the clock they marched from the hall of 
 the Bishop's palace as folio weth : the 
 Countess of Bedford, chief mourner, fol- 
 lowed by the Earls of Rutland and Lincoln, 
 the Countess of Rutland and the Countess 
 of Lincoln, the Bishops of Peterborough and 
 Lincoln, the Lord Chamberlain and the Lord 
 Steward, Lords Willoughby, Compton, and 
 Mordaunt, the Dean of Peterborough, Ladies 
 Mordaunt, Talbot, Dudley, St. John of Basing, 
 St. John of Bletshoe, Savel, Cecil, Montague, 
 Nowel, and Manners. Eight Scotish gentle- 
 women, eight knights, eighteen Scotish 
 gentlemen, two kings-at-arms, Garter and 
 Clarentius, five heralds-at-arms, and an hun- 
 dred poor women. The Prebendaries and 
 Quire received them at the church door, 
 where the Scotish all saving Mr. Melvin 
 54
 
 Peterboroush Cathedral 
 
 departed, and would not tarry at sermon, 
 which was preached by the Bishop of Lin- 
 cohi, on the text, ' Lord, let me know mine 
 end.' The ceremony of burial was done by 
 the Dean ; and so they departed to the 
 Bishop's house, where was a great feast 
 appointed accordingly ; the concourse of 
 people was of many thousands, and after 
 dinner the nobles departed aw^ay every one 
 towards his own house. After that the body 
 of the Queen had rested in this place the 
 space of twenty-five years, her son. King 
 James, being minded to remove it to West- 
 minster, wrote to the Church of Peter- 
 borough, requiring that the body of his 
 dearest mother should be delivered to the 
 Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, to whom 
 he had committed the charge of seeing it 
 translated to Westminster, which was done 
 on the nth of October, 1612." 
 
 Passing on eastward, the choir aisle leads 
 into the eastern chapel, or, as it used to be 
 called, the " New Building." This was the 
 55
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 last addition to the Minster made by the 
 monks before the dissolution of the monas- 
 teries. It forms a kind of ambulatory out- 
 side the Norman apse, to which it acts as 
 a support, and has been built in the most 
 clever manner so as to form part of it. Its 
 fan-shaped roof is of extreme delicacy and 
 beauty, and the whole building, though 
 Perpendicular in style, harmonises perfectly 
 with the severe Norman on to which it has 
 been built. It was begun by Abbot Richard 
 Ashton about A.D. 1440, and completed by 
 Abbot Robert Kirkton about A.D. 1520. 
 The names of these two abbots are recorded^ 
 in the quaint fashion of the day, in the string- 
 course that runs round the building beneath 
 the windows — the name of the one being 
 represented by a small ash-tree growing out 
 of a tun, and that of the other by the letters 
 A. R., followed by the figures of a church, or 
 kirk, and a tun. The latter of these is also 
 to be found in the stringcourse outside 
 above the windows, and also on the Dean's 
 56
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 Gateway, whicli was the last building erected 
 by Abbot Kirkton. Under the windows on 
 the north side of the eastern chapel is a 
 curiously carved representation of St. Wul- 
 fade's stag hunt. Here, in the eastern chapel, 
 is to be seen, in the defaced monuments, 
 some of the destructive handiwork of Crom- 
 well and his followers, w^ho, like the heathen 
 of old, came up into God's holy place and 
 defiled it, breaking down the carved work 
 thereof with axes and hammers. Passing 
 round the eastern chapel we come to the 
 north aisle of the choir, where, on the north- 
 west of the high altar, and almost exactly 
 opposite the spot where Mary Queen of 
 Scots was first buried, lies poor Catherine of 
 Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII. 
 John Chambers, the last Abbot of Peter- 
 borough, became its first Bishop at the 
 dissolution of monasteries, when King Henry 
 VIII. despoiled the abbey, but out of part 
 of its revenues provided for a bishop and 
 cathedral body. 
 
 58
 
 Peterborougli Cathedral 
 
 John Chambers became abbot in i52(S, in 
 succession to Robert Kirkton, and Gunton 
 tells us that: "In his first year Cardinal 
 Wolsey came to Peterborough, where he kept 
 his Easter, llpon Palm Sunday he carried 
 his palm, going with the monks in proces- 
 sion, and the following Thursday he kept 
 his Maundy, washing and kissing the feet of 
 a number of poor people, to whom, also, he 
 gave alms. On Easter Day he went in pro- 
 cession in his cardinal's vestments, and sang 
 High Mass himself. 
 
 " In the seventh year of this John, Cathe- 
 rine, the first wife of King Henry VIII,, 
 and mother of Queen Mary, died at Kim- 
 bolton Castle, in the county of Huntingdon, 
 January 8, 1535, and was buried in this 
 church, betwixt the pillars on the north side 
 of the quire, near to the great altar, her 
 hearse being covered with a black velvet pall, 
 crossed with white cloth of silver, with her 
 Spanish scutcheons affixed thereto. Some 
 write, that for her sake the church of Peter- 
 59
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 borough fared the better at the dissolution 
 of abbeys, and was turned into a cathedral." 
 And it is also added : "There is this tradi- 
 tional story concerning the preservation of 
 this church at the dissolution of abbeys, 
 that a little after Queen Catherine's inter- 
 ment here, some courtiers, suggesting to 
 the King how well it would become his 
 greatness to erect a fair monument for her, 
 he answered, ' Yes, he would leave her one 
 of the goodliest monuments in Christendom' 
 — meaning this church, for he had then in 
 his thoughts the demolishing of abbeys, which 
 shortly after followed." 
 
 Gunton goes on to say : " I have not, as 
 yet, seen any record showing how John 
 Chambers demeaned himself towards King 
 Henry, or complied with him in that great 
 dissolution of abbeys, that the King should 
 continue him in his place, and not put him 
 to death, as he did some, or depose him, as 
 he did others. But probable it is that Abbot 
 John loved to sleep in a whole skin, and 
 60
 
 The. T^CNVe . 
 
 v\
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 desired to die in his nest, wherein he had 
 hved so long, and perhaps might use such 
 means as might preserve (if not his means to 
 his church, yet) his church to posterity." 
 
 The high altar has of late years been 
 replaced exactly where it originally stood, 
 beneath a canopied reredos of extremely 
 beautiful design, which replaced that des- 
 troyed by Cromwell's soldiers ; and the choir 
 has been re-floored with the richest of marble 
 pavements. The choir stalls have been 
 removed from the east of the Lantern Tower, 
 and replaced in their original positions in 
 the two eastern bays of the nave. All that 
 was found of the ancient woodwork has 
 been carefully preserved, and its design 
 faithfully adhered to in the new work. On 
 the Dean's stall the smaller of the carved 
 figures represent scenes in the history of 
 St. Oswald's arm ; and in those on the Vice- 
 dean's stall the history of St. Athelwold and 
 King Edgar and the building of the second 
 Saxon church is represented ; and all the 
 62
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 stalls are enriched with statuettes represent- 
 ing the many persons of note who have been 
 connected with the Cathedral. 
 
 A magnificent organ, the gift of a living 
 benefactor, is placed in the north triforium. 
 
 In the fourteenth century the great central 
 Norman tower was taken down, its east and 
 west Norman arches replaced by pointed 
 ones, and the tower rebuilt as it at present 
 appears ; and in connection with this an 
 interesting matter is to be noticed. 
 
 The roof of the nave, one, at any rate, of 
 the oldest in England, was originally flat like 
 that of the north and south transepts ; but it 
 is now in the form of a very low waggon- 
 roof, and the heads of the shafts upon which 
 it formerly rested were, like those in the 
 transepts, flat and square, but they have been 
 sHced off at the top, and it is probable that 
 the alteration in the shape of this roof was 
 made when the central tower was rebuilt, 
 with its pointed western arch, in A.D. 1350. 
 
 The intention at that time seems to have 
 63
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 been to do away with the wooden roof and 
 replace it by a grohied roof of stone. The 
 shafts were prepared for this, and at the west 
 end of the nave a start had actually been 
 made with this vaulting. It was then, no 
 doubt, found that, owing to the great width of 
 the nave, the outward thrust of the groined 
 roof would have been so great that the walls 
 could not have supported the strain. The 
 wooden roof had therefore to be replaced ; 
 but inasmuch as the apex of the pointed 
 arch of the central tower was now some feet 
 higher than that of the ancient Norman arch, 
 the roof, if replaced flat in its orignal 
 position, would have cut off the top of the 
 arch, and so the ancient roof was slit down 
 its whole length on either side, and replaced 
 in its present form, leaving the whole of the 
 great arch visible. 
 
 The roof is well worthy of a careful inspec- 
 tion. The figures and paintings wuth which 
 it is decorated are of the quaintest character, 
 and can be well seen from the south triforium. 
 64
 
 TOMBS OP 
 A . qUECN CATHCfllUE 
 
 B ■ MAnr, q. of scots. 
 
 CHAPELS OF 
 
 I . S^ HrNLBuRCfi 
 
 Z . 51 BENEDICT. 
 
 3 . Sr OSWOLO . 
 
 A- . TOMB OF THE THREE BUILDERS, 
 
 nBBO Ts JOHN, vianriN s /> vonr. '. 
 
 5. ENTOaNCE TO SAXON Cf 
 
 MONKS DOOR 
 
 iL 
 
 Of - 
 
 Peterborouc^h 
 
 G^rHEDT?^L.
 
 Peterborough Cathedral 
 
 Passing now to the west end of the 
 church, we find in the western transepts one 
 of the most dehcate and beautiful examples 
 that exist of the gradual development of the 
 Early English style of architecture from the 
 Norman, Nothing can be more lovely than 
 the intermingling of the Early English pipe- 
 stem shafts and delicately groined roof, with 
 the rich and solid ornament of the Norman 
 period, and it is most interesting to trace in 
 the blending of the two styles the handiwork 
 of the same builder. 
 
 In A.D. 1541 John Chambers, the last 
 abbot, became the first Bishop of Peter- 
 borough, the monastery ceased to be, and a 
 cathedral body was organised in its place, 
 Since that time the history of the Cathedral 
 has at times been one of sad and senseless 
 destruction, but in later years it has been a 
 record of most careful, skilful, and successful 
 restoration. 
 
 Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON &• CO. 
 London &■ Hdinbur^h
 
 THE LIBRARY
 
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