Wood Carvings in English Churches II



The subject dealt with in this volume, so far as the writer knows, is virgin soil; no book has appeared, here or abroad, on the subject of stallwork. Abroad, the great mass of stallwork has perished; sometimes at the hands of pious vandals, often through neglect, more often still through indifference to or active dislike of mediæval art. In the stallwork of Belgium not a single tabernacled canopy remains; in France and Italy the great majority of the Gothic stalls have been replaced by woodwork of the Classical design that was dear to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; only in Spain can the wealth and splendour of English stallwork be rivalled. In England a great amount of magnificent stallwork still remains; on the stallwork indeed and the concomitant screens time and labour and money were lavished without stint in the last two centuries of Gothic art. Hitherto, however, this important department of English mediæval design has almost wholly lacked recognition and appreciation; attention had not been called to its value in the study of artistic woodwork, and even the most splendid examples of this branch of English art have been passed over with uncomprehending indifference. Yet it is no overstatement to say that there is nothing in this country more consummate in design or execution than the stallwork of Lancaster, Chester, Ripon, and Manchester. To most of the readers of this volume the illustrations which have been here gathered together will come as a revelation of beauty and interest. It is to be hoped that the book will help to inform those who are heritors of a great artistic past, will make them proud of their heritage as Englishmen, and faithful to preserve it and hand it on in turn unimpaired to their successors. The art is in the main English art, as English as the timber in which it is wrought, and deserves the attention of all English-speaking people the world over, who inherit equally with ourselves the good things that remain from the England of old.

This book, like the others in the series, owes much of any value it may possess to the generous and ready co-operation of many lovers of mediæval art. For photographs and drawings the writer is indebted to the Rev. G. B. Atkinson, Mr A. W. Anderson, A.R.I.B.A., Mr J. H. Bayley, Mr C. E. S. Beloe, Dr G. G. Buckley, Dr Oscar Clark, Mr F. H. Crossley, Rev. E. Hermitage Day, Mr W. Marriott Dodson, Mr G. C. Druce, Mr A. Gardner, Mr S. Gardner, Mr G. F. Gillham, Mr C. Goulding, Mr Charles de Gruchy, Mr F. J. Hall, Mr J. F. Hamilton, Mr P. Mainwaring Johnston, F.S.A., Professor Lethaby, Mr W. Maitland, Mr Hugh M‘Lachlan, A.R.I.B.A., Mr C. F. Nunneley, Mr H. Plowman, Rev. G. H. Poole, Mr Alan Potter, Miss E. K. Prideaux, Rev. G. W. Saunders, Mr S. Smith, Mr J. C. Stenning, Mr F. R. Taylor, Mr G. H. Tyndall, Mr G. H. Widdows, A.R.I.B.A., Rev. W. E. Wigfall, Mr A. J. Wilson, Mr E. W. M. Wonnacott, F.S.I. The writer is indebted to the Society of Antiquaries and to the Wiltshire Archæological Society for the use of original drawings.

The revision of the proofs has kindly been undertaken by Rev. R. A. Davis and Rev. C. A. Norris; to the former and to the Rev. A. Bayley the writer is indebted for many valuable suggestions with respect to changes of orientation and the arrangements of chancels. The illustrations are reproduced by the Grout Engraving Company. The text is preceded by a bibliography and lists of measured drawings, and is followed by an index to places and illustrations and a subject index.

The following is a list of the series of Church Art Handbooks in course of publication by the Oxford University Press:—

1. By Francis Bond. 6s. Published.

2. By Francis Bond. 12s. Published.

3. By Francis Bond. 7s. 6d. Published.

4. By Francis Bond. 6s. Published.

5. By P. M. Johnston. In preparation.

6. By Alfred Maskell. In preparation.

7. By James Williams. In preparation.

8. By Francis Bond. 10s. Published.

9. By A. Hamilton Thompson. In preparation.

Macgibbon and Ross in Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, ii. 105.

T. T. Wildridge on the Misericords. Hull, 1879.

History of Renaissance Architecture in England. 2 vols. London, 1897.

Remains of Ecclesiastical Woodwork. London, 1847.

Professor Willis' Canterbury Cathedral. 1845.

Willis and Clark in Architectural History of the University of Cambridge. 1886.

R. W. Billings. Carlisle Cathedral. 1840.

on "Episcopal Thrones and Pulpits" in Architectural Record, xi. 1.

Paper by F. A. Paley; and James Stockdale's Annales Caermoelenses. Ulverston, 1872.

Dean Howson's Handbook on Chester Cathedral; Appendix iii. Measured Drawings of Stalls by J. M‘Lachlan in Builder, 10. iii. 1900.

English Church Furniture. 1907.

Macgibbon and Ross in Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland, ii. 105.

R. W. Billings. Durham Cathedral. 1843.

Rev. D. J. Stewart. Ely Cathedral. 1868.

Early Renaissance Architecture in England. 1901.

Pamphlet on the Woodwork of Halifax Parish Church, by Dean Savage.

Prebendary Wickenden in Associated Societies' Reports, xv. 179; and Archæological Journal, 1881, pp. 43-61.

J. S. Crowther. Plates 24-26 and 30. Manchester, 1893.

Rev. D. J. Stewart in Archæological Journal, xxxii. 18; and Henry Harrod in Castles and Convents in Norfolk; Norwich, 1857.

J. T. Fowler in Surtees Society. Vols. 64, 74, 78, 81.

W. H. St John Hope's Rochester Cathedral. 1900; and Spring Gardens Sketch Book, ii. 46.

Murray's Welsh Cathedrals, 267.

Murray's Welsh Cathedrals, p. 134.

—— Jones and Freeman's St David's. 1856.

Ancient Furniture. London, 1836.

on Stalle, in vol. viii., p. 464, of the Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française.

Canon Church in Archæologia, lv. 319.

W. H. St John Hope in Archæologia, liv. 115.

Neale and Brayley's History of Westminster Abbey: London, 1818. Pugin's Specimens of Gothic Architecture, 1821. Lethaby's Westminster Abbey, 1906.