Summary. The Consistory Court with St Chad’s head chapel above and an undercroft below are situated off the south choir aisle. Next door is the Verger’s room. The history of these rooms is obscure and not helped by equivocal stonework. It probably has the oldest standing stonework of the cathedral.[1]
A suite of
rooms on the south side of the choir aisle is unique to Lichfield.[2] Being unmatched means
their timeline and function are incomparable and obscure. Willis, 1861, after
examining pier bases in the first three western bays of the choir thought the
area was Early English,[3] and claimed the rooms were
the same era.[4]
The only existing known early stonework is the wall bench low down on the side
of the choir aisle.
Rooms off
the south choir aisle
Gallery drawing 1981 in ‘The Builder’, 1891, Note the door to the Consistory Court under the gallery.
Gallery St
Chad's Head Chapel. It has been called a Minstrel’s Gallery, but this is hyperbole.
Both Willis
and Rodwell thought initially there was only one chamber abutted to the south
choir aisle. See the post, ‘Two early chapels.’ The room, perhaps had a dual
function as a chapel and sacristy.[5] Rodwell suggested it was a
lateral sacristy next to the early high altar. He also conjectured this single
room might have only been a foundation before there was a change of intention
and a large chapel/sacristy was built.
Drawing by Willis, 1861, showing a simple side chamber, dated c. 1200 (an approximation) or Early English in style. That means it was extended and enhanced with an upper storey in the next 20 years.
Alternative Rodwell conjecture on the change from a one room to a two roomed building.
An anomalous wall that is inexplicable
Within the interior north wall of
this building can be seen the remains of a three-bay arcade now infilled. The
bases of these rounded arcades were determined to be earlier than the aisle
wall and Rodwell called this a ‘Transitional Sacristy.’ He described it as the oldest standing
masonry, dated 1170–1180.[6]
The three bays are all different in pitch and the door into the building
(sacristy?) was off-centre, and so does not match the current door into the Consistory.
Infill stonework viewed from inside of the Consistory Court looking north and the south choir aisle. The arch opposite bay 1 of the choir is not shown and consists of a very small amount of stone. The column of stonework under the arches arises from a base estimated to be 0.9 m below the pavement of the south choir aisle and 0.1 m below the Consistory floor.[7]
It either shows a change of masons, a change of plan or a
reordering of the internal walls, whilst, strangely, the outer walls remained
unchanged. Gilbert Scott when he uncovered
this internal arcade was baffled by the sealed arches.[8]
Ward concluded the arches begin nowhere and finish nowhere and simply bear
evidence to frequent alteration.[9]
It has teased many who want to determine what has gone on. It is undoubtedly an interim arrangement, but
for what purpose is unknown and when it was constructed and re-constructed is
unclear. Dating it by the finish of the stone and the shape of the arch is
problematical.
Drawing of
pier bases from a 1930s Lomax guidebook.
Later rebuild
Sometime in the 13th-century, two rooms were formed. The
western room (verger’s office or duckit) was smaller and opposite the first bay
of the choir. The eastern room was larger in length and width (the Consistory,
but used as a sacristy and storeroom). This difference in size could also be
accounted for by the small room having to fit the north bay of the south
transept (see Willis’s plan). The earliest accounts[10] call the rooms the
Prebendary (large room) and Vestry (small room). Later accounts call them a
Chapel (large room) and Sacristy or Treasury (small room).
Various plans of the two rooms. Notice there was once a connecting door between the two rooms, it is obvious in the wall but now blocked. It is possible to leave the small room via steps down in the south east corner and through a door reach the large room. A small passage from the south east corner of the large room leads downwards to a barrel vault or undercroft which once held the tombs of the Paget family. There is no internal passage to the upper room in the corner turrets. Britton shows the two rooms are not in precise alignment, but this is probably a fault of the drawing.
According to Rodwell this rebuild occurred between c. 1220 and 1230. It first involved the formation of a subterranean crypt with barrel vaults. Above this was constructed a rib-vaulted chapel dedicated to St Peter with turrets at the corners. It was now a multi-purpose structure used as a sacristy, treasury and chapel.[11] The upper storey was added between c. 1230 and 1240, and how it was accessed is unclear. Rodwell conjectured there was a loft with stairway built out into the south choir aisle opposite the third bay. The steps led to a platform at sill level of a window now reshaped as a doorway.[12] At this time the small room, Rodwell called it a treasury, was added between St Peter’s Chapel and the south transept.
Rodwell’s sequence has problems. The crypt or undercroft extends the whole length and width of the chapel. Why 40-50 years after building a lateral sacristy then pull the entire building down and dig down into the bedrock to add the undercroft.
Vault under
the Consistory. The end wall appears to be an infill and the vault must have
extended under the duckit.
Paget’s tomb
Entrance from outside for the vault under the Consistory
Furthermore, the pier bases of the filled-in arches are
close to the roof of the undercroft suggesting they were constructed together.
Perhaps, the mystery is really why leave the remnants of pier arches in the
wall, when the whole sacristy building is being demolished?
The current stairway leading up to the gallery was possibly added
early in the 15th-century.[13] By then pilgrims headed
to the shrine in the retrochoir and were not faced with the steep steps.
St Chads Head Chapel stairs
A mystery grave
Masonry
restoration of the Consistory east window in 1981 led to the discovery of a
grave 1.5 m (5 feet) above the current ground level within the wall under the
sill and above the chamfered plinth. It is where the monument is noted on
earlier plan drawings. A skeleton was found in a coffin made from a single
block of sandstone 2 m (6 feet 8 inches) long. The lid was a single stone slab
140 mm (5.5 inches) thick. Some bones were out of position and some not,
suggesting the grave had been interfered with; indeed, the skull was missing.
Rodwell suggested the repositioned bones could have been used as relics.[14] By the right elbow was a
decayed pewter chalice signifying this was the grave of a priest. There were
the remains of leather by the feet and pieces of cloth and string. Rodwell
deduced bones were removed and then replaced wrapped up in red cloth tied with
string. The skeleton was a male aged 50 to 65 years old and 1.7 m (5 feet 6.5
inches) tall. He suffered from osteo-arthritis in the jaw and wrists and the
fusion of vertebrae. The wall was thicker where the grave was placed suggesting
it belonged to a man associated with the building of the rooms. From this it
was concluded to be the grave of William de Manecestra (William of Mancetter),
1222–1254. He was the first elected dean and it is presumed building operations
must have been continuous during his time of office. This included the building
of a chapel dedicated to St. Peter, for his chantry; this was said in 1254 to
be 'attached to the church on the south side' and has been identified as the
room now used as the Consistory Court.[15] The word ‘attached’ might
suggest a separate chapel abutted on. The grave of a priest suggests the room
was primarily a chapel and this suggests the chapel could have contained the relics
of Chad. These dates do not fit entirely with an Early English architectural
style (Willis) or a Transitional time of building (Rodwell), unless the grave
was added in a later time. Perhaps, the grave is not that of Manecestra, but is
of an earlier canon.
Civil War destruction and Victorian reordering
The upper
storey was badly wrecked in the Civil War, 1643–6, and the damage described by
Clifton.[16] The four walls were in a
broken condition and without a roof. The Early English windows, twelve lancets
in groups of three, were still evident. The site of the old altar was clearly
marked and a small portion, together with the piscina and aumbry, had been
preserved. At some unknown time, the chapel was roofed again, the tops of the
walls rebuilt and a flat, plaster ceiling added. The old chapel was now filled
with cupboards holding the muniments. Joseph Potter re-cased the south-east
turret, 1834, and renewed the stonework of the south-west turret, 1840.
In 1897, the
room was repaired as a chapel. Stone groining was restored and a second
staircase downwards was removed. New bosses and corbels were carved with
subjects denoting the history of Chad; windows showed angels playing ancient
instruments. The entrance was once a window, suggesting the chapel and balcony
were an afterthought.
The duckit floor was raised up to accommodate the heating system, 1850s, and now has a step inside the entrance door. Assuming this floor would have been at the same level as the Consistory Court means the floor was raised by around a metre. The cupboards now at floor level in the verger’s office would have been originally inset into the wall. Some think they housed the relics of Chad before the shrine was built, but this is speculative.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Consistory Court 1833 J.C. Buckler and the ceiling at present
Steps from Consistory Court to south choir aisle
[1]
T.G. Lomax A short account of the City and Close of Lichfield. (Lichfield:
1834) 43.
[2]
W. Rodwell, Archaeology at the cathedral: a new study of St Chad’s Head
Chapel. 48th annual report to the Friends of the Cathedral, (1985).
[3]
For Lichfield, Early English could be 1200–1300.
[4]
R. Willis, On foundations
of early buildings recently discovered in Lichfield Cathedral. The
Archaeological Journal, (1861), 18, 11.
[5]
W. Rodwell, ‘The development of the choir of Lichfield Cathedral: Romanesque
and Early English.’
in J. Maddison (Ed.), XIII Medieval archaeology and
architecture at Lichfield. The British Archaeological Association. (1993), 24.
[6]
W. Rodwell, Archaeology of the Cathedral: A new study of St Chad's Head
Chapel, Lichfield: Friends of Lichfield Cathedral, 48th Annual Report.,
held in the Cathedral Library. (1985).
[7]
See note 4 Rodwell (1993), 25.
[8]
J. G. Lonsdale, Recollections of work done in and upon Lichfield Cathedral
from 1856--1894. Lichfield, Alfred Charles Lomax: 1895).
[9]
H. Snowden Ward, Lichfield and its Cathedral: a brief history and guide. (London:
1892), 47.
[10]
S. Shaw, The history and antiquities of
Staffordshire, Volume 1. ( London:
1798) who copied from Gale, 1720.
[11]
See note 4 Rodwell (1993), 31.
[12]
Ibid, 32–3.
[13]
Rodwell thought previous access might have been by a wooden staircase, see note
5.
[14]
W. Rodwell, The skeleton in the wall. Unpub. article in the Cathedral
Library, (1983).
[15]
VCH, ‘House of secular canons- Lichfield cathedral: To the Reformation.’ A
History of the County of Stafford, Volume 3, (1970), 140–166, note 236
referencing S.H.C. (1924), 27–8, 19.
[16]
A. B. Clifton, The Cathedral church of
Lichfield. Bell Series. (London:
1900), 106–7.
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