In 1789, James Wyatt removed the stone screen between the choir and the Lady Chapel and used the stone to build a screen between the crossing and the choir. A new organ was placed on top of the stone wall in 1790. It occupied the first choir bay, an estimated area of 9 m x 6 m (30 feet wide and 20 feet long). The stone screen, organ and an added window stretching upwards to the roof separated the nave from the choir and thus the congregation from the clergy. In 1856, the organ was removed and placed in the north choir aisle. In 1857, the stone screen was dismantled.
In 1859, as
part of the complete restoration of the choir and presbytery by George Gilbert
Scott, 1811–1878,[1]
drawings were prepared for an innovative open metal screen to separate the nave
from the choir which would still allow sight of the high altar.[2] The
screen was designed by Scott, manufactured by Francis Alfred Skidmore,[3]
1817–1896, at his works in Coventry (Alma Street, Hillfields) and installed in
1861. The estimated cost was £800 and another £132 paid for gates across the adjacent
aisles. Drawings were submitted for a new pulpit in 1864 and installed a year
later. Skidmore almost certainly went on to make the lectern in brass.[4]
The chancel screen at Lichfield is as original in its conception as in its execution; it is absolutely unsurpassed, (Arts Journal, London, 1862)
Drawing of the Hereford screen at the 1862 Exhibition. From Illustrated London News, 30 August 1962. It took over 70 men and 5 months to make.
The screen at Salisbury, erected 1869–72, was removed in
1959 and sold as scrap metal.[7]
Screen in Salisbury Cathedral . |
Lichfield’s metal screen remains the only one left in place in a cathedral. It has been little altered; there was some restoration in the 1970s. It harks to the new gates of Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation. Like the stalls, reredos, statues, presbytery tiled floor and cathedra it shows off the finest Midlands craftsmanship.
[1]
Best remembered for his design of the Midland Hotel at St Pancras and the
Albert Memorial. Scott also designed the Workhouse on Trent Valley Road, now
part of Samuel Johnson hospital. When appointed he had a staff of 27. After his
death his work at Lichfield was continued by his son, John Oldrid Scott,
1841–1913.
[2]
There are records of much discussion on the location or not of a screen, its form
and material and what it should represent. Opening up the visual aspect of the
cathedral was deemed to be paramount. The general view is George Scott
more-or-less had his ideas executed. The screen reflects the growing use of
ironwork due to its lowered cost of production and manufacture.
[3]
He was recognised as a premier metalworker of the 19th-century, yet sadly died
in poverty. His silver-gilt and enamel chalice exhibited in the Great
Exhibition, 1851, launched his career. It is now in the V & A. !n 1867,
Coventry held its own International Exhibition, and Skidmore had a large
section for his exhibits.
[4]
D. Wallington, Scott and Skidmore. The Lichfield legacy. Unpub. article
in the Cathedral Library. 44–60.
[5]
Angels playing musical instruments is a motif for Chad around the cathedral and
particularly in St Chad’s Head Chapel.
[6]
Quoted from I. Brown, ‘The Hereford Screen’, Ecclesiology Today. (2014),
Issues 47 & 48, 3–44.
[7]
R. Mount, ‘Screens and vistas in Cathedral. An old controversy revived’, Country
Life, (September, 1960).
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