Lady Chapel

Summary.  The Lady Chapel, funded by Bishop Walter de Langton, is the best architecture of the cathedral, and has affinities with Sainte-Chapelle in Paris and elsewhere. A finely carved, gilded, wooden reredos tells the story of Christmas.

           Many historians have believed the Lady Chapel instigated and funded by Bishop Walter Langton was deliberately modelled on Louis IX’s Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.[1] The following is a comparison of the two shrine chapels, both dedicated to the Virgin Mary. 

·       Work on the Lady Chapel started around 1315,[2] and was completed by 1336,[3] but dates are uncertain. Work was possibly halted in 1321 on Langton’s death. Quarrying was mentioned in 1323 for use in the Lady Chapel and work was still being undertaken in 1335. Sainte-Chapelle was built nearly 80 years earlier; construction began sometime after 1238 and the chapel was consecrated in 1248. The ‘Holy Royal Chapel’ in Paris was an architectural gem to emulate.[4] This would have been noted by Langton.

The Lady Chapel standing behind the spot where once stood a shrine to St Chad.

 

Sainte-Chapelle 1890–1900. 

·                   William Franceys has been suggested as the master-mason employed by Bishop Langton and he might possibly have been a Frenchman.[5] It has been conjectured Parisian stonemasons were employed who knew how Sainte-Chapelle was built. There are many similarities in the construction.

An examination of stonework in 2009[6] found red sandstone was used on the lower half of the Lady Chapel and an orange sandstone on the upper half from the springing line of the windows. The red sandstone is thought to be original and from the cathedral site; the source of the orange sandstone has not been found. It shows there has been significant alteration of the chapel. 

·       Both chapels are tall, narrow extensions to the church. The Lady Chapel is approximately 17 m long, 13 m wide and 18 m high,[7] whereas Sainte-Chapelle upper chapel (there is a smaller lower chamber) is much longer and a little taller, internally, at 33 m long, 10 m wide and 20.5 m high. 

   

 Comparison of plans of the two chapels. The Lady Chapel shape is semi-octagonal with nine external bay elevations and eight buttresses. It is unusual for England, but has French parallels. Sainte-Chapelle has four bays on each side and a seven-sided apse. 

 

Lady Chapel exterior. Note the massive buttresses to hold the mass of window. Also, the three windows are all different indicating alteration. At the base are three recesses and below them at ground level can be seen small windows to a subterranean undercroft. The three small windows were added once the ground level in front had been lowered, c. 1 m, on several occasions.

 

Large buttresses with pinnacles on top

East end showing the step necessary in the base to accommodate the slope of the land, c. 1 m. The outside has 24 niches for statues, which were supposed to be for 12 patriarchs and 12 apostles originally. Today it is an eclectic mix of people that Victorians considered were important to the cathedral. 

·       Deep buttresses strengthened with ironwork were added to both chapels in order to support the considerable glass.[8] Lichfield’s buttresses and ironwork were removed in the 1880’s to 1892 restoration under the supervision of John Oldrid Scot. It was written the ‘much dilapidated buttresses were defaced by iron bands.’[9] At Sainte-Chapelle two metal rings girdle the chapel and are disguised from the outside as bars for the windows. It too has had much restoration, 1840–68. Iron band reinforcement indicates the problem of supporting heavy, leaded windows with huge buttresses, but then the buttresses reducing incoming light.  

·       The windows have simple trefoil tracery. Sections of the three windows in the Lady Chapel apse are original, those on the sides were rebuilt by Scott.[10] At Sainte-Chapelle around two-thirds of the 15 windows are original, one-third were destroyed in the     French Revolution, 1789. The greater loss of original window in the Lady Chapel has to be ascribed to the      Civil War.  

·       Internal niches held statues. In the Lady Chapel it was supposed the original figures were ten wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25, 2).[11] In 1895, the niches were filled with figures of ten virgin saints and martyrs.[12] Sainte-Chapelle has 12 apostles, of which six are replicas, the originals were destroyed in the French Revolution, 1789. 

·       The arcades are richly sculpted with ‘beasts’, see the post, ‘Beasts in the Lady Chapel’. Sainte-Chapelle also has numerous ‘naturalistic’ beasts sculpted on the capitals. There are similar beasts in the two chapels.

·       Both have wall arcades. The Lady Chapel has ‘nodding’ ogees, curving forwards at the top of the arch. All are richly decorated.

·       The south side of the Lady Chapel has three small chambers with an undercroft.[13] They were possibly used for anchorite priests to receive visitors for spiritual guidance, see the post ‘Anchorites at Lichfield’. Either this undercroft or the one under the Consistory have been used for imprisonment.[14] Externally there were recesses, presumably for tombs. In the early 18th-century there was a doorway, now removed, allowing access to the Close; was this for visitors to the anchorite priest?

Drawing of south side showing the door. From Dugdale Monasticum Anglicanum, late 17th-century. Note also the style of windows before Victorian reordering.

 

At Sainte-Chapelle there is a lower storey to the chapel once reserved for courtiers, servants and soldiers of Louis IX’s court. This chapel has a low ceiling and small windows and is consequently dimly lit. It contrasts with the upper chapel with its many windows, rays of coloured light passing through and painted walls and ceiling.

 Roof of the Lady Chapel with its complex rib vaulting.

 

Beautiful rib vaulting, bosses and appropriate paintwork. 

·       Vaulting in the Lady Chapel roof is continuous with the nave and choir having a mid-line rib vault. There are seven ribs diverging from the slender shafts like the choir (six only in the nave). There are four transverse ribs, twelve roof bosses and tierceron ribs. Sainte-Chapelle is much simpler with no mid-line vault, only three arch ribs from each wall shaft and five bosses. It appears as a four-part ribbed quoin vault. Clearly the roof for the Lady Chapel is more complex and has a later date; it might not have been the first roof constructed. Civil war damage, especially on the parapet has been found.

 Boss appears to have ‘Green Man’ features.

 

The Lady Chapel modelled on Sainte Chapelle or elsewhere

The Lady Chapel clearly takes inspiration from Sainte-Chapelle, but is on a smaller scale. Its original architecture was innovative for England, but has been much altered. Originally it was a building that framed a sumptuous shrine of St Chad completed probably 1307–8. Today it is a chapel dedicated to St Mary.

          Maddison has linked many features of the Lady Chapel which fit into the architectural fashion of 14th-century England. The decorative motifs have parallels with buildings in Kent, East Anglia and elsewhere.[15] He conjectured an association with Canterbury masons and association with St Stephen’s Chapel at Westminster begun in 1292 and continued into the early 14th century. He particularly noted the wall passage at windowsill level that is absent at Sainte-Chapelle, but can be seen at the east end of Westminster Abbey, 1245‑69, and also at Bristol. The passage appears to have no functional purpose and must simply be decorative. He thought the same goes for the small, vaulted chambers on the south side which have a counterpart at Bristol. Maddison pointed out the decorative crenellations follow from those on the tower and the surrounding wall of the Close.

 

Lady Chapel reredos

          A gilded and painted wooden reredos in the form of a triptych, but really five panels, was placed in the Lady Chapel in 1895. The altarpiece was carved by Oskar Zwink in Oberammergau, on the border of Germany and Austria. It was designed by Charles Eamer Kempe, 1837–1907 and tells the story of Christmas.

Triptych with five scenes of Christmas.

King David, Isaiah, John the Baptist and Chad are depicted on the back of the side panels and are seen when the triptych is closed. On the sides of the central panel are the figures of Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine and Gregory.

 

[1] J. Maddison, ‘Building at Lichfield Cathedral during the episcopate of Walter Langton (1296–1321)’. The British Archaeological Association conference transactions for 1987. XIII Medieval Archaeology and Architecture at Lichfield. (1993), 72.

[2] Ibid, 80. Also M. W. Greenslade, 'Lichfield: The cathedral', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14, Lichfield. (London, 1990), 47-57. 

[3] In 1336, William de Heywood and Robert Aylbrick were admitted as custodians of the fabric of the chapel of the Blessed Mary. This is taken to indicate the Chapel was now being used.

[4] Maddison (1993), 72, conjectured Bishop Roger Meuland, 1275–95, might have strongly considered adding a Sainte-Chapelle type ending to the squared east end of the 13th-century cathedral. He also conjectured, page 70, if Langton formulated the idea of rebuilding the eastern arm of the cathedral before ordering a new shrine for St Chad in the Lady Choir (retrochoir).

[5] Is Franceys a corruption of France? J. Harvey, English Medieval Architects. (Stroud: 1984) 105 conjectured if the builder was William of Eyton instead.

[6] K. Blockley, Lady Chapel, Lichfield, Staffordshire. Standing fabric recording report 665. (2011).

[7] Length and height of the Lady Chapel are taken from T. Harwood, The history and antiquities of the church and city of Lichfield. (London: 1806), 72. The height of the Lady Chapel is the same as the Nave.

[8] Sainte-Chapelle upper chapel is said to be two-thirds glass; that is the impression from the inside.

[9] J. G. Londsdale, Recollections of work done in and upon Lichfield Cathedral from 1856--1894. (Lichfield: 1895), 29–30.

[10] Londsdale and others noted the extremely poor state of the exterior of the Lady Chapel before restoration. Tracery was found consisting of Roman cement moulded onto wood with rope, metal and bitumen incorporated. The windows had to be re-leaded. The two western most windows are entirely Scott’s design.

[11] W. Stukeley, Itinerarium Curiosum: or an account of the antiquities and remarkable curiosities in nature and art observed in travels through Great Britain. (London: 1776).

[12] The statues are, 1. St Werburga with pastoral staff and book and a model of Chester Cathedral at her feet. 2. St Cecilia with organ. 3. St Prisca with palm branch, and lion at her feet. 4. St Faith with sword and rack. 5. St Catherine with sword and wheel and open book treading on a monster. 6. St Margaret with book and cross treading on a dragon. 7. St Lucy with palm branch and lamp. 8. St Agnes with palm branch and book and lamb at her feet. 9. St Agatha with palm branch and tongs. 10. St Etheldreda with crown, pilgrim staff, pastoral staff and a model of Ely cathedral.

[13] J. C. Fox, ‘The Mortuary Chapels of Lichfield Cathedral’, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal. (1879), 1. A. B. Clifton, The Cathedral church of Lichfield. (London: 1900), 105, also called them Mortuary Chapels.

[14] Mentioned by T. Harwood (1806), 96, without reference. J. C. Fox (1879), 122, mentions hearsay of Parliamentarian spies being imprisoned during the siege of the Royalists.

[15] Maddison, (1993), 75. See note 1.