Early English Choir

            Robert Willis,[i] 1800–75, an architectural historian, visited Lichfield Cathedral for two days in August 1859 and wrote up his conclusions in a seminal paper in 1861. He identified the earliest part of the standing cathedral as the choir. He said it was Early English (Gothic) in architectural style.  

Style	Date	Kings
Early English	1189–1272	Richard I (1189–99, John (1199–1216, Henry III (1216–72)
Decorated	1272–1377	Edwards I (1272–1307), II (1307–1327) and III (1327–1377)
Perpendicular	1377–1547	Richard II to Henry VIII (1377–1547)

Architectural periods from J. H. Parker, ABC of Gothic Architecture, (Oxford and London: 1881)

Some architectural historians fix Early English with a shorter time-span of 1180–1250 and that might apply to the cathedral. Early English is the first of three architectural styles which make up Gothic construction. It was a transitional period from the heavy, monumental Norman way of construction to the lighter, decorated stonework that followed. The consensus is the crossing tower, first three, western bays of the choir, the chapel on the south side of the choir and the south transept are Early English. There are also indications parts, such as the vestibule and chapterhouse, on the north side of the choir aisle are also Early English. The north transept is probably late Early English, but has indications of also being early Decorated. 

Features of Early English that are applicable to the choir are:[2] 

·         lancet windows, that were long narrow windows with pointed arches and no tracery. Later came ‘plate’ tracery, so-called because the openings were cut through a flat plate of stone.

·         columns or piers were often composed of clusters of slender, detached shafts, which ascended to the vaults above.

·         decoration included mouldings which were deeply cut. Often it was dog-tooth ornamentation around the arches, but there were other forms.[3] 

·         the abacus or capital at the top of the columns was circular.

 

Pier in the north choir aisle near the crossing. The abacus (flat slab forming the uppermost member of the capital) is round. The ornamentation is stiff leaved foliage carved on the bell (the lower portion of the capital). Foliage appears crisp and fine in treatment. The pointed arch is deeply ornamented with ‘double chevron’ arch moulding; which is uncommon.[4]  

              A sort of double chevron on the Lady Chapel at Glastonbury Abbey ruins.

                       

         

Similar double chevron on the east wall of St David’s cathedral, 12th-century.

·         the arcades in the nave usually occupy the lower half of the side wall. The upper half being divided equally between a triforium and clerestory. There is symmetry and that gives a more satisfying appearance.

·         sculptured figures of large size were used, and placed in niches with canopies over them.

Willis attached the label ‘Early English’ to the following parts of the choir.

 

Willis's interpretation, 1861, of Early English in the choir.

He identified the first three ‘severeys’ (an archaic term for severy meaning a bay) of the west end of the choir and adjacent aisles as being the earliest Early English.[5] The eastern four bays were later and are in a Decorated style. The boundary between these two styles is obvious.

The Decorated 4th (middle bay) and 5th (left bay) on the south side of the choir. Notice they are wider than the Early English 3rd (right bay). Notice also a change in the shafts on the piers and the decoration on the arcade wall. The rooms seen through the bays on the south aisle outer wall are Early English. The gallery, seen through the right arcade, was a later addition.

Willis identified the clerestory above the first three west bays was Decorated and in a lighter coloured stone. From this he assumed the upper original part was replaced by a new Decorated clerestory when the rest of the bays (4 to 7) in the choir and presbytery were added on sometime in the 13th-century.

South side first three bays of the choir with the arcades and piers originally being Early English and the clerestory above being Decorated. It now has Perpendicular windows with rectilinear tracery. Willis thought the original windows of the clerestory had lancets.

 

North side second bay of the choir showing Early English piers. The clerestory above is Decorated with Perpendicular panelled windows.

He found the 3rd piers were Early English on the west side and Decorated on the east side. 

  

Drawing in ‘Lichfield Cathedral’ in The Builder, 1891, of the change in piers from Early English to Decorated with the 3rd piers split on two sides.

 In the side aisles the transverse rib of the last Early English vault (2nd column) still rested on its Early English pier. The 4th south pier retained beneath its current plinth (base or pedestal)[6] a portion of the plinth of an Early English pier. This portion was the lowest course; now under the floor and consisting of 8 inches of stone. The base of the plinths (Willis used the word footstall) for the 5th and 6th piers were said to be the same as the 2nd pier and so must be Early English. These piers now have plinths with angled stone and are Perpendicular in form. Finally, the very large footstall to the 5th south pier was thought to be earlier than Early English; this is a conundrum.[7]

 

Eastern sides of plinths from the 4th south pier (left), 4th north pier (middle) and 5th north pier, west side (right) to show the different shapes caused by adding extra bays to the second cathedral layout. According to Willis the centre of the 4th south pier stands 7 inches more to the east than that of the original Early English pier. The 5th north pier is Late Decorated or Perpendicular. The bases of the plinths are under the floor.

    Willis drew the conclusion the choir area of the first three bays was the oldest part of the current cathedral. This was reliably based on the bottom stone of the piers, now columns, which must have avoided any subsequent alteration. The nave was Decorated and the Lady Chapel was labelled Late Decorated. Willis concluded, “The buildings, although showing differences of detail and of construction which prove they were erected at considerable intervals, and under different architects, do follow the same general design, and were they dated, would greatly elucidate the chronology of the Early English style.” The original third cathedral was mostly Early English.

Throughout the cathedral are piers with plinths moulded in an Early English style that has a hollow roll known as a ‘water-holding’ base.[8] This deeply cut roll echoed the deeply undercut moulding on the capital. They are very different from the simpler, round rolls of earlier piers and the elaborate ‘triple rolls’ of later Decorated piers.

 

Second south pier in choir showing clustered shafts around the pier, with some decoration on the capital and a ‘water-holding’ plinth. This pier is typically Early English.

Plinth from the second pier in the nave showing a more elaborate set of rolls that is late Early English, or even Early Decorated.

 

At no location did Robert Willis mention Norman or Anglo-Norman or Romanesque stonework (apart from some rubble around the high altar), though he described the foundation to the second cathedral as not being possible to date, but was a Norman church. Willis summarised the architecture as, “The present choir is so early in its details that it must have been commenced (or considerably reordered?) near the beginning of the century,” that is, the 13th-century. The investigation and conclusion was repeated in the Gentleman’s Magazine in 1861;[9] Willis called his visit ‘a curious investigation’.

Willis was wanting to fix a timeline to the cathedral. He found it difficult to give dates for the revealed second cathedral foundation and for a foundation of a rectangular chamber under the presbytery. He was cautious on the timeline for the different levels of the central tower. His dates for the rest of the cathedral have more-or-less been accepted, but they are approximations.

In the floor of the presbytery was found by the builder a very large, square, font.[10] Willis did not see this and the font has since disappeared. 

Drawing of font by John Hamlet 1854. It has been reddened and cracked by fire.

Placing an unwanted font under the high altar suggests it had historic value. It could therefore have been more ancient than the dates affixed to the standing cathedral (see the post ‘Third cathedral Dates’). If it is still under the high altar floor and could be re-found, it would, if datable, give insight to the second cathedral.

Anyone investigating the choir and aisles will know it is the most difficult and tantalising part of the cathedral. Rodwell saw it necessary to split the Early English period into three (c. 1200–20, c. 1220–30 and c. 1230–40) to explain the rooms on the south choir aisle.[11] There is no doubt this area housed the second cathedral and the church for the third cathedral. Some believe, but the evidence is very thin and ought not to be mentioned, it was also the site for the first cathedral. It is therefore no surprise many changes to the architecture have been made to accommodate different styles of worship. The author believes that one day new technology will date all parts of the choir and this will significantly enhance our understanding of the development of church architecture. Lichfield holds the keys to unlock this history.

 

The conundrum of the roof

In 1243, Henry III commissioned Walter Grey, Archbishop of York, to expedite the works at St George's Chapel, Windsor, and to construct a lofty wooden roof, like the roof of the new work at Litchfield. It was to appear like stone work, with good ceiling and painting.[12] So which roof was Grey to model his wooden roof? It would be logical to assume he is modelling from a wooden roof at Lichfield. Willis thought there was originally a wooden roof above the south transept and this was the model.^[13] Wall shafts under the vault in the south transept have on their top an Early English abacus and above that a later abacus in Perpendicular style suggesting the stone vault roof was added considerably later than when the lower walls were built.^[14],[15] Rodwell thought the choir had originally a wooden roof. He wrote, “The buttresses along the aisles were rebuilt and were adapted to receive fliers from the high roof of the choir. Thus, the choir was undoubtedly vaulted at this stage, although perhaps in timber rather than in stone. Surely this is what Henry III admired in the late 1230s and ordered its replication at Windsor in 1243.

Clifton thought the date, 1240s, would better suit a timber roof above the transepts than the choir. There is in all this conjecture an ignoring of the phrase to appear like stone work. Could this mean Grey modelled from a stone, vaulted roof at Lichfield, but had to construct the roof at Windsor in timber? The current roof in St George’s Chapel does not resemble any roof at Lichfield. Three-quarters of the nave roof is in timber and made to resemble stone work. Having an earlier timber roof and then soon after changing to a stone roof seems unlikely, though not impossible. It is another uncertainty.

[1] R. Willis, ‘On foundations of early buildings recently discovered in Lichfield Cathedral’. The Archaeological Journal, (1861), 18, 1–24.

[2] Taken from B. F. Fletcher. A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method for the Student, Craftsman, and Amateur. 5th ed. (London: 1905).

[3] The simplest form of chevron was introduced to Britain between the years 1120–30, according to A. W. Clapham, English Romanesque Architecture after the Conquest. (Oxford: 1934), 128.

[4] There is a similar moulding around the north doorway of Llandaff Cathedral and in the Glastonbury Abbey ruins. There is a Norman moulding called a Lozenge, but it does not have the middle line of stone running through the chevrons.

[5] Willis (1861), 11–13.

[6] The plinth can be a flat, square stone originally intended to keep the bottom of wooden pillars from rotting. Willis did not rule out the Early English piers were originally wooden. Willis (1861), 4 footnote.

[7] The Early English plinths and portions of the flat buttresses to piers on the south side aisle were observed again by J. T. Irvine in April 1880 and reported in The Archaeological Journal, (1880), 37, 214. Irvine’s drawings titled ‘Plinths and ancient buttresses of south aisle of quire, Lichfield Cathedral, laid open April 22, 1880’ are in Staffordshire Record Office, LD30/6/2/55.

[8][8] H. Braun, An introduction to English Medieval Architecture. 2nd edition (London: 1968), 271, Fig. 201. The water-holding aspect is fanciful; it is more likely to hold dirt.

[9] R. Willis, an address to the Archaeological Institute. The Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Review March. (1861). 210, 296–300. 

[10] The font was 1.4 m square (4 feet 6 inches square) and 0.6 m thick (2 feet). The cavity was 1 m diameter (3 feet 3 inches) and had a rebated lip suggesting it had a cover.

[11] 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), 17–35.  

[12] W. H. Pyne, The History of the Royal Residences, (London: 1819), 1, 35 and A. B. Clifton, ‘The cathedral church of Lichfield a description of its fabric and a brief history of the episcopal see.’ (London: 1900), Bell Series, 68. Also VCH, Staffordshire, 3, 149.

[13] Willis (1861), 18.

[14] The later roof is said to have been instigated by Bishop Walter Langton. See J. Britton, The history and antiquities of the See and cathedral church of Lichfield. (London: 1820), 28. It could have also been undertaken in the 1350s, see note 5.

[15] The position of the south round window between the lower stone vaulted roof and the upper external roof, so that it cannot be seen from inside the cathedral, has been said to be proof for the stone roof added later. See, J. C. Woodhouse, A short account of Lichfield Cathedral. Lichfield: (Lichfield: 1811), 5.