Vandalism at Salisbury Cathedral

Were today not Sunday it would be the feast of St Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, who died in 1099, but was only canonised in 1457 - the last pre-reformation recognition of sanctity for an English saint. There is an online life of him here.

The cathedral he knew at Old Sarum was replaced in the thirteenth century by the present Salisbury cathedral, and it was there that his bones were enshrined, and to that building that my thoughts turn. Or rather to some of its features which were destroyed in the eighteenth century. Regular readers of this blog will be aware of my revulsion at the destruction of historic and beautiful buildings and monuments, and here is another example of what shocks me.

At the end of the 1780s the Chapter of Salisbury called in as their architect James Wyatt. Now as an exponent of Neo-Classicism he was fine - witness the library at Oriel built in 1788. Let loose on a medieval cathedral he was lethal. Durham, Hereford and Salisbury bear witness to his ravages. If at Hereford he had in part the excuse of the collapse of the west tower in 1786, and at Durham his schemes were stopped short of destroying the Galilee Chapel, at Salisbury there seems to be neither excuse nor restraint.

Demolishing two later Hungerford and Beauchamp chantry chapels of 1464 and 1481 which flanked the Trinity Chapel at the east end can, I suppose, be explained, but not excused, as restoring the original configuration of the eastern chapels. There is an interesting, illustrated article about the history and development of this part of the cathedral here.

The same idea of restoring to its primitive simplicity (now where else have I heard that dangerous idea in connection with the Church...?) may have applied to removing the porch to the north transept. Ruthlessly pulling down the choir screen and rearranging the medieval tombs in tidy lines in the nave was bad. His worst action was destroying the detached bell tower.

It had been built in 1265, soon after the completion of the cathedral, and before the central tower and spire were raised. In style it was about the same period as the chapter house and cloisters. The plan was square, although one writer, frequently quoted, calls it multangular. The stone tower comprised two massive stories with lancet windows in the lower, and windows with plate tracery above, with a spire apparently of wood crowning the whole. Leland in the mid sixteenth century speaks of it as "a notable and strong square tower for great belles, and a pyramis on it, in the cemiterie."

When the cathedral was visited in 1553 by the Royal Commission there remained a peal of ten bells, and the re-casting in 1680 of the seventh and eighth by the Purdues, local founders, is recorded among the muniments. The sixth is now the clock bell of the cathedral, but the fate of the others is absolutely unknown.

It was evidently massive enough to have stood for centuries, and the single pillar of Purbeck marble, "lying in its natural bed," which was the central support that carried the bells, the belfry, and the spire, is specially mentioned by the architect Price as perfectly sound, but he owned that the leaden spire, and a wooden upper story, were decayed, and put forward a design of a sham classic dome which he hoped might be erected in its place.

Situated to the north west of the cathedral it appears in early views of the cathedral and close:

Salisbury Cathedral with its bell tower by Wenceslas Hollar 1671

Image: Salisbury and Wiltshire Museum

A larger version of this engraving can be found here.

The Bell Tower, a striking feature of the close, and indeed the city, as it was before 1789, is shown above in the facsimile of an engraving originally published in 1761.This shows the campanile standing at the north-west corner of the enclosure.

Image: www.gutenberg.com

By 1768 the timber upper stage and spire had been removed, leaving the stone base, as here:

The bell tower in 1768 by Francis Grose

Image:Wikigallery.org

Despite its antiquity it was demolished as superfluous in 1790, and the churchyard levelled in 1789-90. Apart from pictures all that survives is the clock, now working in the nave, and which may be as early as 1386. In a dry summer, as in 1972, one can detect a crop mark in the grass where it stood.

Not only was this historic feature lost, but Salisbury also lost the ability to have bells - along with Ely and Norwich amongst Anglican cathedrals it is devoid of a peal.

Now if I were Dean of Salisbury I would start a campaign to rebuild the bell tower - the design could easily be reconstructed from the drawings and excavation of the site - and acquire some bells. But then, I'm not Dean of Salisbury.

Disaster at Hereford

April 17th 1786 was Easter Monday, and the calm of the cathedral close at Hereford was shattered by the collapse of the western tower of the cathedral.

The west front about 1700.

Image: British Library

The original Norman west front is similar to that of Rochester Cathedral, and shows similariries to that of Tewkesbury, although lacking the great recessed arch that is so distinctive afeature of the Gloucestershire abbey church.

To this was added the western tower. It was clearly designed to complement the central tower of 1320-40, hence the pattern of fenestration and use of ballflower ornament. Built as it was on top of the west front and clerestory, rather than from the ground, it is perhaps not altogether surprising that it collapsed - the only other similar examle in England was at Malmesbury, which suffered the same fate.

The west front on the eve of the collapse.
The spirelets have been removed, the stonework appears to be in poor condition and there is what should have been a worrying crack in the masonry to the north of the doorway.

Image: British Library

The head of the statue of St Ethelbert from the west front is said to now adorn St Ethelbert's Well in Quay St in Hereford.

The North Prospect of the Cathedral Church of St Ethelbert at Hereford
1742



Another view from the north of 1779

The aftereffects of the collapse as depicted by I. Wathen in 1786

Image: British Library

The Dean and chapter called in the architect James Wyatt to restore the building. As a Neo-Classical architect was fine - as for example the Oriel Library of 1788. Let loose on a medieval church he showed at Hereford, even more than he had at Durham and Salisbury, all the sensitivity of a1960s town planner faced with an historic town centre. Over the decade 1786-96 he shortened the nave by a bay, rebuilt the whole of that part of the cathedral above the nave arcade, and removed the timber spire, pinnacles and parapet from the central tower. Inside the cathedral a vast amount of damage was done, including the loss of many monumental brasses, although the figure of 2 tons weight is surely exaggerated.

Not until Lewis Cottingham's 1841 restoration were the parapet and pinnacles, rather larger in the latter case than those there previous to Wyatt, but which work well, replaced on the central tower.

Wyatts' insipid west front found little favour and in 1878 Sir George Gilbert Scott produced a design in the romanesque style, that perhaps mercifully, was not carried out. In 1902-8 his son J. Oldrid Scott rebuilt the west end as a memorial to Queen Victoria. This is a much more impressive design, though the nave still remains short of a bay.

The present west front

Image: Britannia.com

The front which collapsed in 1786 was perhaps a little awkward in its appearance, the result of piecemeal alterations and development. The current front is in many a fine piece of work, but part of me regrets that there was not the decision to reconstruct the pre-1786 design.

Hereford is a cathedral for which I have a great affection. Part of that I recognise is because I am aware of the damage it has sustained over the centuries since the reformation, but it has survived neglect and the attentions of vandals and restorers, and still presides over the city.