Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/702

Rh and Ripon. These are peculiarly interesting from their similarity in form and arrangement to the catacomb chapels with which Wilfrid must have become familiar during his residence in Rome. The cathedral, begun by ^Ethelwold and finished by Elphege at Winchester, at the end of the 10th century, had spacious crypts &quot; supporting the holy altar and the venerable relics of the saints &quot; (Wulstan, Life of St jEtheltvold), and they appear to have been common in the earlier churches in England. The arrangement was adopted by the Norman builders of the llth and 12th centuries, and though far from universal is found in many of the cathedrals of that date. The object of the construction of these crypts was twofold, to give the altar sufficient elevation to enable those below to witness tho sacred mysteries, and to provide a place of burial for those holy men whose relics were the church s most precious possession. But the crypt was &quot;a foreign fashion,&quot; derived, as has been said, from Rome, &quot;which failed to take root in England, and indeed elsewhere barely outlasted the Roman esque period&quot; (Essays on Cathedrals, p. 331). Of the crypts beneath our Norman cathedrals, that under the choir of Canterbury is by far the largest and most elaborate in its arrangements. It is, in fact, a subterranean church of vast size and considerable altitude, and in consequence of the elevation of the floor of the upper church is scarcely, if at all, below the level of the soil, and is therefore fairly well lighted. The whole crypt was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and contained two chapels especially dedicated to her, the central one beneath the high altar, enclosed with rich Gothic screenwork, and one under the south transept. Thislatter chapel was appropriated by Queen Elizabeth to the use of the French Huguenot refugees who had settled at Can terbury in the time of Edward VI. There were also in this crypt a large number of altars and chapels of other saints, some of whose hallowed bodies were buried here. At the extreme east end, beneath the Trinity Chapel, the body of St Thomas (Becket) was buried the day after his martyrdom, and lay there till his translation, July 7, 1220. The cathedrals of Winchester, Worcester, and Gloucester have crypts of slightly earlier date (they may all be placed between 1080 and 1100), but of similar character, though le;s elaborate. They all contain piscinas and other evidences of the existence of altars in considerable numbers. They are all apsidal. The most picturesque is that of Worcester, the work of Bishop Wulstan (1084), which is remarkable for the multiplicity of small pillars supporting its radiating vaults. Instead of having the air of a sepul. chral vault like those of Winchester and Gloucester, this crypt is, in Professor Willis s words, &quot; a complex and beauti ful temple.&quot; Archbishop Roger s crypt at York, belonging to the next century (1154-1181), was filled up with earth when the present choir was built at the end of the 14th century, and its existence forgotten till its disinterment after the fire of 1829. The choir and presbytery at Rochester are supported by an extensive crypt, of which the western portion is Gundulfs work (1076-1107), but the eastern part, which displays slender cylindrical and octagonal shafts, with light vaulting springing from them, is of the same period as the superstructure, the first years of the 13th century. This crypt, and that beneath the Early English Lady Chapel at Hereford, are the latest of our existing cathedral crypts. That at Hereford was rendered necessary by the fall of the ground, and is an exceptional case. Later than any of these crypts was that of St Paul s, London. This was a really large and magnificent church of Decorated date, with a vaulted roof of rich and intricate character resting on a forest of clustered columns. Part of it served as the parish church of St Faith. A still more exquisite work of the Decorated period is the crypt of St Stephen s chapel at Westminster, than which it is difficult to conceive anything more perfect in design or m-r3 elaborate in ornamentation. Having happily escaped the conflagration of the Houses of Parliament in 1834 before which it was degraded to the purpose of the Speaker s state dining-room it has been restored to its former sumptuous- ness of decoration, and is now one of the most beautiful architectural gems in England. Of Scottish cathedrals the only one that possesses a crypt is the cathedral of Glasgow, rendered celebrated by Sir Walter Scott in his novel of Rob Roy (ch. xx.). At the sup posed date of the tale, and,indeed till a comparatively recent period, this crypt was used as a place of worship by one of the three congregations among which the cathedral was partitioned, and was known as &quot;the Laigh or Barony Kirk.&quot; It extends beneath the choir transepts and chapter-house ; in consequence of the steep declivity on which the cathe dral stands it is of unusual height and lightscmeness. It belongs to the 13th century, its style corresponding to our Early English, and is simply constructional, the building being adapted to the locality. In architectural beauty it is quite unequalled by any crypt in the United Kingdom, and can hardly anywhere be surpassed. It is an unusually rich example of the style, the clustered piers and groining being exquisite in design and admirable in execution. The bosses of the roof and capitals of the piers are very elaborate, and the doors are much enriched with foliage, &quot; There is a solidity in its architecture, a richness in its vaulting, and a variety of perspective in the spacing of its pillars, which make it one of the most perfect pieces of architecture in these kingdoms &quot; (Fergusson). The care that is taken of this beautiful architectural gem, and the lavish outlay with which its windows have been decorated with stained glass, are a gratifying proof that the citizens of Glasgow fully appreciate the treasure they possess. In the centre of the main alley stands the mutilated effigy of St Mungo, the patron saint of Glasgow, and at the south-east corner is a well called after the same saint. Crypts under parish churches are not very uncommon in England, but they are usually small and not characterized by any architectural beauty. A few of the earlier crypts, however, deserve notice. One of the earliest and most remarkable is that of the church of Lastingham near Pickering in Yorkshire, on the site of the monastery founded in 648 by Cedd, bishop of the East Anglians. The existing crypt, though exceedingly rude in structure, is of considerably later date than Bishop Cedd, forming part of the church erected by Abbot Stephen of Whitby in 1080, when he had been driven inland by the incursions of the northern pirates. This crypt is remarkable from its extend ing under the nave as well as the chancel of the upper church, the plan of which it accurately reproduces, with the exception of the westernmost Lay. It fom.s a nave with side aisles of three bays, and an apsidal chancel, lighted by narrow deeply splayed slits. The roof of quadripartite vaulting is supported by four very dwarf thick cylindrical columns, the capitals of which and of the responds are clumsy imitations of classical work with rude volutes. Still more curious is the crypt beneath the chancel of the church of Repton in Derbyshire. This also consists of a centre and side aisles, divided by three arches on either side. The architectural character, however, is very different from that at Lastingham, and is in some respects almost unique, the piers being slender, and seme of them of a singular spiral form, with a bead running in the sunken part of the spiral. Another very extensive and curious Norman crypt is that beneath the chancel of St Peter s-in- the-East at Oxford. This- is five bays in length, the quadripartite vaulting being supported by eight low, some what slender, cylindrical columns with capitals bearing grotesque animal and human subjects. Its dimensions are