Chichester cathedral: The central crossing, tower and transepts

CENTRAL CROSSING

The CENTRAL CROSSING is 33½ ft. from east to west by the same width as the sanctuary—namely, 26 ft. The four arches about it are entirely the workmanship of Sir Gilbert Scott's rebuilding of 1861–6, and said to be precise copies of the original details based upon careful drawings which had been made by previous surveyors to the cathedral. After the fall of the spire, the debris was examined and note taken of the original mouldings and carvings, which, with the aid of the drawings, were reproduced in their correct positions. Some of the stones are said to have been re-used, but it is now difficult to discover their positions without a very close inspection. Scott's only alteration to the former elevations is said to have been in the heightening of the walls of the tower some 5 ft. or 6 ft. in order that the string-course to the top stage could clear the gabled roofs of the four arms which had been heightened in the 14th century and had encroached on the stage.

All four arches are semicircular; the east, north and south arches have responds with a three-quarter engaged shaft on each edge and a middle half-round shaft, all with cushion or scalloped capitals. In the east arch the rolls which are carried by the outer shafts are treated with cable ornament, while the inner square order carried by the half-round shaft is enriched on its east and west faces with diaper carving. The side arches of similar section are plain. The west archway differs from the others in its inner order, which, in the responds, is furnished with two shafts separated by an enriched V-shaped projection, and in the head this order has three roll-moulds instead of being square in section. Above the east, north and south arches, but not the west, are three lancet recesses, a repetition of those of a 13th-century heightening.

The vaulting has moulded diagonal wall-ribs and a central circle for the passage of bells. The ribs are carried on carved corbels.

Tower

Externally the Tower is of two stages above the roofs; the lower is decorated with wall-arcading of eight bays on the north and south sides, six on the west side (but none on the east). They have moulded pointed arches on engaged stone shafts with carved capitals and moulded bases. The top stage has coupled windows in each face; these were walled up in the former tower except for narrow loops, but Scott left them open, covering the floor of the chamber with lead as a protection from the weather. Each window has shafted jambs and two pointed lights under a two-centred main head. The spandrels are variously pierced with quatrefoils, a trefoil and a mere slit. At the angles are turrets, the south-western being round up to the parapet, the others octagonal with panelled faces, the two eastern being pierced with loop-lights for stair-vices. The parapets are embattled and are carried on corbels and pointed arches. The turrets rise above the main parapets and also have embattled parapets.

The octagonal spire, probably of the 15th century originally, rises to 277 ft. above the ground. At the base are unpierced dormers on the four sides to the cardinal points, each with two tiers of trefoiled panels and tracery under a concave gable enriched with crockets; they are flanked by diagonal buttresses with pinnacles. On the other four sides, in the angles of the tower, are small free octagonal turrets with panelled faces and enriched parapets, above which are small spirelets with angle rolls, etc. The main spire also has angle rolls and is decorated with two broad bands of quatrefoil panelling, the lower in squares, the upper of reticulated pattern. The apex is crowned by a moulded capping, a vane and weather-cock. The last is said by the inscription on it to date from 1638, the work of Daniel Seymor, goldsmith; it has been regilt and restored several times and inscribed with names and dates 1638, 1675, 1698 and 1866. (fn. 1)

The space under the crossing and tower is occupied by the Stalls of the clergy and quire. There are three tiers of seats on either side facing north and south respectively, in three blocks. The back ranges are the Prebendal stalls, which are canopied and, with the open screen dividing them, date from c. 1330. The two easternmost stalls are those of (north) the Treasurer and (south) the Chancellor. At the west end are the stalls of the Precentor (north) and the Dean (south); these are separated from the others and are modern; they have tall canopies above them. Before the Arundel screen was removed from the west end of the quire, the stalls of the latter faced east; the present arrangement was brought into use after the rebuilding of the tower, when the present screen was erected.

The Prebendal stalls are in the main ancient and are fitted with hinged seats which have carved misericordes on their undersides. They are divided by partitions or standards with curved elbow-tops: these are decorated with carvings of great diversity both at the bases and at the tops of the elbow-curves—knops of foliage, human heads, monsters, grotesques, etc.—the edges of the elbows being moulded between the carvings. The top rails are curved to form the backs of the stalls, breaking forward over each standard in a rounded plan. The canopies have panelled backs, coved soffits and open-traceried screens, the posts of which are housed into the top-rails of the seats above the elbowed standards. The posts have moulded capitals and bases and carry sub-cusped and ogee-headed arches enriched with crockets and finials of foliage, the last incorporated in the main cornices. Above the posts are diagonal super-posts also crocketed and with finials in the main cornices. Between the bays, above the shafts, are diagonal pinnacles with gablets and crockets. Above the moulded cornices are broad friezes painted with the names of the prebends.

The panelling behind and above the seats is modern, but some of the attached half-round shafts appear to be ancient as well as about half the base-moulds of the canopy-soffits and their moulded ribs.

The two east stalls of the Chancellor and Treasurer are distinguished from the others by their foiled arched canopies with tall traceried gables enriched with crockets, etc. The sides are close-panelled and similarly treated with gables, etc. In the back of the Chancellor's stall is original panelling—a trefoiled ogee-headed arch with quatrefoil tracery showing probably the design of the whole of the back panelling of the stalls originally. Most of the east faces of the two stalls have been restored.

The misericordes form a most interesting series of carvings; some of them may be symbolical, but most of them are merely fanciful devices. They are of the usual pattern, with the main carving as a kind of corbel below the seat, connected by tendrils or foliage to a knop or boss on either hand. The carvings briefly are as follows, starting on the north side from east to west: 1 (Treasurer's seat), A man wearing a cowl and a beast dancing face to face; sides, two cowled men's heads upside down. 2, Foliage (partly restored). 3, Monster with human head and arms, left hand holding its tail (centaur ?); sides, apes' heads. 4, Foliage; sides, human heads, the western grinning. 5, Two cowled men's heads, the eastern bearded, below them a monster's (serpent's ?) head biting the throat of the western man; sides, two close-shaven human heads, the western a priest (?). 6, Three dragons, middle one upside down; sides, foliage. 7, Man playing a viol, with his head bent back kissing a woman (dancer ?); sides, beast-heads upside down. 8, Lion's mask; sides, open-mouthed monsters' heads. 9, Winged beast; sides, foliage. 10, King's head with two winged reptiles biting his hair; sides, a human and a lion's head both with protruding tongues. 11, A lion-like monster spouting foliage; sides, foliage. 12, A monster with a human head and arm crawling sideways and wearing a long draperied hood, and foliage; sides, human heads, eastern cowled. 13, Foliage and fruit (grapes ?); sides, east a quadruped, west a lizard. 14, Two monsters, half-beasts, half-birds, fore paws holding up the seat, squatting on feathered hind legs which cross each other, tails between legs; sides, lions' masks. 15, Two dogs attacking a hare, between them, above the hare, a winged bat-like creature; sides, foliage. 16, Foliage and grapes; sides, reptilian monsters with beast-heads. 17, Foliage; sides, grotesque heads upside down with protruding tongues. 18, Two apes front to front with heads turned away and squatting on hind quarters, upholding seat with their fore paws; sides, crawling monsters. 19, Naked man plunging a sword into the mouth of a monster which is on its hind legs; sides, winged monsters.

On the south side from east to west are: 1 (Chancellor's seat), Fox playing a harp and with its hind legs on a goose, while opposite is an ape dancing; sides, foliage. 2, A crouching bearded man grasping his shins with his hands; sides, grotesque beasts. 3, A single-headed double-bodied lion squatting on its hind quarters; sides, monsters with lizard-like bodies. 4, A griffon; sides, a human and a grotesque mask. 5, A dog or sheep, and a horned ram upholding seat with forelegs, between them a bird with outspread wings; sides, cowled heads. 6, Two snake-like monsters in coils; sides, men's heads with long hair. 7, Foliage. 8, Foliage; sides, lions' masks. 9, Two bird-like monsters with long necks one crossing the other, and with beast-heads, mouth to mouth, one biting the other's tongue; their claws stand on the flowing hair of a small human head; sides, a beast's and a man's head both biting the tails of the monsters. 10, Monster with human head, wearing cowl and tippet, and arms, beating a small drum, tail upraised has a man's head at the base; sides, foliage. 11, A bull-like creature but with long flap-ears, swallowing a snake-like winged monster; sides, human heads. 12, A hairy beast with a human head having a pointed and curled beard, which he is holding with his right hand, pointed ears and waved hair, a grotesque human head on rear of the beast; sides, grotesque round faces. 13, A woman fighting a lion, thrusting a sword into its mouth, and foliage; sides, women's heads. 14, Two men with heads turned out and their bodies mixed up, a hand grasping the beard of the east man, the west head cowled; a leg turned up, apparently that of the bearded man (wrestlers?); below them a saddled ass with its tongue out; sides, coiled serpents. 15, A mermaid with a mirror; sides, beast-heads upside down. 16, Two musicians seated on chairs, one playing a harp, the other a pipe; sides, a woman's head in wimple and veil and a man's head. 17, Foliage and acorns; sides, human heads. 18, Two human heads, one resembling No. 12, the other cowled; sides, human faces. 19, Winged monster with a beast's head and bird's body, and a tail with a human head at the end; sides, beasts' heads upside down.

The rood-screen of oak is of 1890 and consists of three pointed bays, the middle one a doorway and the side bays subdivided into three by mullions and tracery. Above the cornice is a traceried parapet, a cross and two angels. Below the cross is a niche with an image of St. Richard.

On the north side of the quire under the transept arch stands the organ (fn. 2) lifted above the level of the quire stalls, the loft being approached by an iron spiral staircase in the transept. It was first built by Renatus Harris in 1678, but has been altered and enlarged many times since: there are said to be some remains of the original instrument (fn. 3) still in use. It now contains 33 stops to the great, swell, quire and pedal organs. (fn. 4) The case was added in 1888. (fn. 5)

North Arm of the Transept

The North Arm of the Transept measures 34 ft. from east to west by 47½ ft. from north to south. It is of two bays. The north wall is gabled, the face of the gabled head setting back from the main face below, behind a parapet with old trefoil arches, on a row of 17th or 18th-century moulded corbels. In it is a large rose window with tracery based on an interlacing triangular design, but evidently entirely modern. In views of c. 1800 no signs of window or gabled head can be seen, as then existing, and the roof is depicted as a flat one with the gabled weather-course of the former roof showing on the north wall of the central tower. The design was apparently taken from the window shown in Daniel King's engraving, c. 1660.

The east wall has an intermediate buttress above the adjoining roofs, of the date of the vaulting. There are string-courses below the clearstory windows, at the level of their abaci, and also above them; the last is the parapet-string and, being straight while the wall below is deflected in the middle, it dies out at the north end. The parapet is plain, without corbels or arches, and is mostly restored. Former corbels and arches are shown in early-19th-century views of the transept. In the north bay is the gabled weather-course of the former roof over the library; it cuts across the clearstory window and the intermediate buttress.

The north-east angle has a pair of large buttresses of the 14th or 15th century and of four stages reaching nearly to the parapet. These absorbed the original shallow bu tresses which had string-courses (afterwards cut away) like the north-west buttress. Below the sill of the great north window is a shallow buttress of wide-jointed masonry, and the walling east of it is also wide-jointed, but west of it the walling is of fine-jointed later repair. The north-west angle contains an original 12th-century stair-turret which projects to the north and west as shallow buttresses with angle rolls to the upper half and a triple-hatched string-course crossing its lower part which is restored on its west face. Against this is a much deeper buttress on the north face, of three stages, and against the west side is a flying buttress, of two hollow-chamfered orders, from a pier the outer face of which is 22 ft. away; the lower part of the pier has been renewed on its north and west sides. On its south face high up, about level with the crowns of the west windows of the transept, are three or four corbels with hollowed and moulded faces and about 2 ft. higher a horizontal weather-course. These corbels supported a former roof, the line of the gable of which can be seen slightly marked on the west face of the transept.

The west face retains the original intermediate shallow buttress, which has angle shafts or rolls to the upper half with moulded bases, and, just above the sill-level of the clearstory window, foliated capitals and tabling that may be later. South of it is the deeper buttress of the date of the vaulting. This is pierced in the lower half by a later square-headed opening. On the face of the shallow buttress is a line to indicate where a former wall met the buttress. The parapet has renewed trefoiled corbel-tabling.

The arches in the east and west walls of the transept from the north aisles are modern; they are pointed and of three moulded orders, the outermost with dog-tooth ornament, and are carried on responds, in each of which are five shafts, two of stone being engaged and the other three of Purbeck marble, all with moulded capitals. The north responds are old and the south responds are modern; the hood-moulds have head-stops.

The north bay of the east wall has a round-headed archway to the library, with jambs and head of two square orders with beaded and hollow-chamfered imposts—partly hacked away in the north reveal; the soffit is plastered. On the south side and in the south reveal are traces of wall painting with figure subjects, one possibly of a bishop, and diaper ornament. (fn. 6) South of it towards the transept is a corbel carved with the head of a bearded man. (fn. 7)

The masonry above the arch is of Sussex stone; in the south bay it is wide-jointed except where it has been restored, but in the north bay it is fine-jointed and of smaller courses. There is a patching in the south bay where a doorway from the stair-vice formerly pierced the wall.

The triforium stage of this wall has, in the south bay, an archway like those in the west bays of the east arm, but all modern except the north respond and perhaps the diagonal checker work in the tympanum, which appears to be of old stones re-used.

In the north bay is a wide round-headed archway of three orders, the innermost square, the outer two with mouldings of the late-12th or early-13th-century period. The jambs, of three square orders, have engaged shafts with moulded bases and foliated capitals, the moulded abaci being continued along the wall as string-courses. The south reveal is pierced for the wall-passage leading to the triforium gallery. The passage is lighted by a small round-headed opening towards the transept.

The west wall has two original (early 12th-century) windows with splayed reveals and round heads. Both have internal recessed orders with detached stone nook-shafts, in courses not lining with the masonry, and with grooved and hollow-chamfered abaci, which were formerly continued as string-courses but were afterwards cut away.

Externally the northern window has shafted jambs with cushion capitals, the abaci again continued as string-courses, and (restored) billet-moulded labels. The southern window has most of its north jamb buried by the later buttress and only the south shaft is visible; the label has been cut away. At the north end is a round-headed doorway to the north-west stair-turret. The outer face of the wall here has also been pierced by a modern doorway and a former modern doorway southward has been walled up.

The triforium arch is like that opposite, but entirely modern.

The clearstory has arcading in both the east and west walls resembling that in the west bays of the east arm, but here the intermediate Purbeck shafts are single; they have their abaci tailed back as lintels across the wall-passage. The soffits of the side arches are finished neatly, instead of being roughly scooped out like those of the sanctuary. The soffits of the north arches on both sides are plastered. The windows in the middle arches have early-13th-century slightly pointed heads, the external arches being of usual moulding on shafted jambs. The southern is partly of modern stone work.

The great window in the north wall is of seven cinquefoiled pointed lights and tracery of late-14th or early-15th-century character in a two-centred head. The mullions are moulded and the splays have semi-octagonal engaged shafts with moulded bases and moulded and carved capitals, carrying a double-ogee moulded rear-arch which is separated by a three-quarter hollow from the hood-mould; the hood-mould has human-head corbels. The jambs externally are treated in a similar manner, but the whole of the tracery and arch, except perhaps a few voussoirs, is modern. The window is filled with white glass. On either side of the window-head inside, on a level with the abaci of the clearstory arches, are short lengths of string-course to indicate that a similar clearstory-arcade originally crossed this wall.

The intermediate vaulting shafts are triple-rolled like the others, but only the middle roll is keeled. They have moulded bases and capitals as in the east arm; there are also triple shafts in the north angles, the middle one keeled. At the north end of the west wall, which apparently leans outwards, the verticality of the shafts has been preserved by a pilaster facing, and there is also a pilaster for the same purpose at the east end of the north wall; at the west end of the same wall the later backing to the shafts is indicated only by a straight joint. The vault-ribs are of a slightly more simple section than those of the east arm excepting the wall-ribs, which are much the same, with keeled edge-rolls, but of smaller detail; these last do not appear to be of Caen stone like the rest. Another peculiarity is that the same ribs and the diagonals spring for about 6 ft. from the north angles up to a break, whence the diagonal ribs begin their proper arcs. There are no wall-ribs to the north wall above the breaks. Also the north bay, only, has a moulded ridge-rib of a section approaching those in the east bays of the Lady Chapel.

From these differences in the general design of the vaulting it may be inferred that either the north bay of the vaulting needed reconstruction in the late 13th century, or that the finishing of the vaulting after the great fire was considerably delayed in this part. At the intersections are bosses of foliage.

The Library, probably the Chapel of the Four Virgins, (fn. 8) stands east of the transept. It is 35½ ft. long from east to west by 29 ft. and is of two bays in its length and also of two bays from north to south. The northern bay took the place of the original round apse, while the narrower southern bay occupies the remainder of the width up to the north wall of the east arm. Two chantries were founded in the chapel of the Four Virgins for the soul of Bishop John de Climping, who died in 1262. (fn. 9)

The two parts, north and south, of the chamber are divided by an arcade of two bays of which the pointed arches serve also as vault-ribs. They are carried on a Purbeck marble cylindrical column, in narrow courses, with a 'hold-water' base and a round capital carved with foliage. The moulding of the abacus is of a section differing from any of those hitherto noticed and is of a distinctly 13th-century type. There are four compartments of quadripartite vaulting, two each way, with their ribs meeting on the column; they spring from wall-shafts of three keeled rolls with similar bases and capitals, but all of stone. In the east angles are single shafts and in the west angles of the north half are foliated corbels. The middle south wall-shaft is worked on the face of a buttress to the aisle and is of one build with it, as the abacus of its capital continues along the east side of the buttress as a string-course. Similarly the south-west shafts are worked on the angle of the block of masonry which contains the stair-vice to the upper story, which must also be considered as coeval.

The two north bays are each almost square in plan, but the south-east bay is narrower from north to south and the south-west bay, owing to the encroachment of the stair-turret, is much smaller east to west. The longitudinal and transverse ribs form two-centred arches, and both they and the diagonal and wall-ribs are of much the same sections (of keeled roll and hollow type) as those of the main vault of the east arm, but with the notable difference that here the diagonal ribs of the north-west bay and the wall-ribs of both north and east bays have their vertical sides—but not their soffits—enriched with a running cheveron ornament.

There are no wall-ribs to the south wall. At the intersections of the north bays only are bosses of foliage.

Each of the two bays of the east wall has a wide lancet window with recessed and shafted jambs inside and out having moulded bases and carved capitals. The outer order of the head is moulded and has a hood-mould externally; the rear-arch is also moulded and carved with dog-tooth ornament. The abaci are continued as string-courses, and those inside are extended until they meet the vault-ribs.

The north wall contains two 15th-century windows, the eastern of three and the western of four lights with restored tracery. They have cinquefoiled heads and vertical tracery in two-centred heads, the internal splays being plain, but the mullions and the jambs and arches externally are moulded. The hood-mould of the western window has weather-worn head-stops; in the eastern window they have perished altogether. Below the sill outside is a 13th-century string-course. On either side of the eastern window inside, approximately level with the springing-line of the tracery, are original string-courses which were the continuation of the abaci of the former 13th-century windows that these windows displaced.

The east bay of the south wall has a moulded string-course about 6½ ft. high. In this wall is a restored plain rectangular recess where may have existed a piscina.

In the west bay, besides the doorway from the north aisle, below the vault can be seen part of an early 12th-century window to the aisle, now blocked.

In the library are monuments to the Rev. Richard Tireman, 1792; to Robert Sandham, 1776; and to Judith, wife of John Fletcher, 1657 (set up 1713).

The stair-turret is entered through the west wall of the south-west bay by a doorway with chamfered jambs and round head. The central newel of the stair has a spiral handrail of a single roll worked in the solid. Off the stair is a window looking into the library, and, higher, a late cutting to a former doorway in the east wall of the transept which is now walled up. The winding stairs, however, do not rise very high and develop into a straight stair, above the vaulting of the south-west bay, leading to the upper chamber. This chamber is thought to have been the original library, before the Lady Chapel was used for the purpose. It fell into disrepair and lost its gabled roof. Most of the windows were walled up, but have been opened out in recent years. The south wall is, of course, the old exterior of the north quire-aisle. In the west bay is retained the outer stonework of an original 12th-century window with a billet-moulded label: the vaulting and stairs cut across it and part of it shows below in the library. Over it, and also in the east bay, are two of the round-headed original windows that lighted the triforium gallery, and a string-course below their sill level. The original corbel-table to the parapet also still exists with half-round arches between the carvings of human heads, beasts, etc. One beast's head has a small human being in its mouth. The middle buttress of this wall is the later one carried up from the library, but in the south-west corner above, or rising out of the top of the winding stair-turret, is what appears to be the remains of original buttressing of four recessed orders, two against each wall of the angle. It is roughly finished off about 2 ft. below the corbel-table. Set in this wall at the east end is a piscina basin. Farther north on the west side are the decided remains of the original apse, a stump of the walling left in place as a skew buttress. Through the west arch of the chamber access to the triforium gallery is gained by means of the wall passage in the south reveal. The chamber is lighted by three lancet windows in the east wall and two in the north wall. The middle light of the east triplet is set higher in the wall than the other two, which were formerly blocked. Externally they have engaged stone shafts with foliated capitals and moulded bases, and moulded heads. The sills have moulded edges continued as string-courses for a short length on either side of each window, but that below the higher middle window reappears again north of the next window from it, which would make it appear that the two side windows were formerly at the same level as the middle light and were dropped later, perhaps when the gable head was altered. The abaci of the middle window continue as string-courses; the side windows have no abaci. The gable is now low-pitched with its apex cut off.

The two lancet windows in the north wall, blocked till recently, are at a lower level. The parapet has moulded corbels; much of the ashlar facing of this wall is of modern repair. Below the windows is a moulded string-course. There are old buttresses of two stages against the east and north walls to withstand the thrust of the vaulting, and at the north-east angle is a clasping buttress.

South Arm of the Transept

The South Arm of the Transept, which is of the same size as the northern arm, is also gabled behind a newly restored parapet, which has corbels carved in 1932. Reading from east to west the heads represent the Prime Minister (Mr. Ramsay MacDonald), the organist (Dr. Harvey Grace), the Chancellor of the Cathedral (Dr. R. J. Campbell), the Archdeacon of Chichester (the Ven. B. G. Hoskyns), Bishop Langton (the maker of the great south window), the Bishop of Chichester (the Right Rev. G. K. A. Bell), the Treasurer (the Right Rev. Hugh Hordern), the King, the Dean (the Very Rev. A. S. Duncan-Jones), the Precentor (the Right Rev. H. K. Southwell), Canon E. Mortlock (Canon Residentiary), the surveyor of the fabric (Mr. P. M. Johnston), the builder (Mr. Cecil Norman), the foreman (Mr. Parsons), and Mr. Stanley Baldwin (Lord President of the Council).

In the gable is a large rose window with tracery of foiled triangles about a hexagon, all, with the gable, much restored.

The south-west angle has a stair-turret treated as a shallow clasping buttress with a low triple-hatched string-course (marking the sill level of the original window, which is the same as that of the south aisle of the east arm) and a higher plain course. There are loop-lights for the stairs.

The south-east angle has remains of the broad shallow buttress exposed on the east face above the contiguous building, and at the angle are two deeper buttresses of four stages, added probably when the great south window was inserted by Bishop Langton (d. 1337). The east wall also retains two original intermediate shallow buttresses, and between them the higher, deeper and later buttress of the date of the vaulting. Above both angles are octagonal turrets flanking the gable, with embattled parapets, much restored.

The parapets and corbelling in the side walls are similar to those of the eastern arm. The masonry of the walling seems to have undergone many repairs between the 12th and 20th centuries.

The transept has modern arches into the south aisles and triforia similar to those on the north side, all modern except the south responds.

In the south part of the east wall is the archway to the chapel of St. Pantaleon, now the Canons' Vestry; it is round-headed but differs in some respects from the corresponding arch in the north arm; it has moulded abaci of a different and later section and the responds of two orders have small chamfers which are brought out to square by moulded stops above the plinth and below the imposts. The arch is of three orders, the outer two chamfered and the innermost moulded with triple-rolls between two hollows; these are carried on half-round corbels, foliated and semi-conical below. There is no other arch in the cathedral quite like this one, and it probably marks one short period in the work of restoration and enlargements of c. 1200.

Above it at triforium level is a wide archway as in the other arm, but of two orders; those of the responds are square and have Purbeck marble shafts resembling the others of the period, the moulded abaci being continued as string-courses. The round arch has a square inner order and moulded outer order with keeled edge-roll and rather more elaborate section than that in the north arm. All the masonry in this bay is of fine-jointed Caen stone, while that of the north bay (where not of modern rebuild or repair) is of the wide-jointed original ashlar. About 9 ft. high is an original chamfered string-course, partly hacked away.

In the south bay of the west wall is a round-headed doorway into the sacristy (the present 'Singing School'). The upper part of the wall is unpierced, and of the old masonry, as is also a scrap of the north bay under the south end of the clearstory, but the greater part of this bay has later fine-jointed ashlar as well as the modern walling.

The clearstory in both the east and west walls is like that of the north arm, except that the lower half of the south window of the west wall is filled in with masonry. The east windows have nook-shafts outside, the northern detached and having cushion capitals, the southern engaged, of stone in courses with foliated capitals. The north label has billet-ornament; the south label is plain.

In the south wall is the great window said to have been inserted by Bishop Langton (1305–37); it was badly damaged in the 17th century and partly patched up with wood: it has since been restored more than once, so that little of the tracery is ancient. It is of seven cinquefoiled lights and a blend of geometrical and flowing tracery in a two-centred head. The mullions are moulded and the jambs inside and out are splayed: they have engaged filleted-roll shafts with moulded bases and foliated capitals, the abaci of which are ornamented with paterae or square flowers. Both main and rear arches are moulded and have hood-moulds with head-stops. The window is filled with Munich glass to Anna Abel Smith, 1870. Below it, inside, is a 14th-century moulded string-course, and below this the angles of the south wall have projecting pilasters, one against each wall in the west angle; these have chamfers with moulded stops top and bottom. On them are grooved and hollow-chamfered abaci or imposts. They are evidently part of the early-12th-century walling, but the eastern abacus or impost is modern.

The vaulting is similar to that of the north arm, but here the soffits of the diagonal ribs are enriched with dog-tooth ornament. The triple wall-shafts have been restored below the triforium level. In the south-east angle is a single shaft which is nearly buried in Langton's thicker walling. In the south-west angle a similar shaft is cut off below the triforium level. At the north angles the ribs are carried on foliated corbels.

On the east side of the south half of the south arm stands the chapel of St. Pantaleon, now used as the Canons' Vestry. It is 15¾ ft. from east to west by 17 ft. and is vaulted in one bay. There was a chantry at the altar here for Bishop Ralph, called also Ralph Randall, whom Walcott identifies as Bishop Ralph I (d. 1123), but perhaps the bishop commemorated is more likely to be Bishop Ralph Neville (d. 1244), for whom we know there was a chantry in the cathedral, and at the time of whose death chantries were more commonly founded than when Ralph de Luffa died. (fn. 10) This is probably the chantry known later as Neville's Chantry. (fn. 11)

The vault of the chapel has ribs moulded somewhat like those in the south aisle of the sanctuary—a V-shaped soffit between the rolls—but rather more simple in contour. They spring from triple vaultshafts in the east angles and corbels in the west. The corbels are old, but the east shafts and capitals are modern (1902), although the Purbeck marble abaci are old. The east wall-ribs do not rise above the abaci of the east windows.

In the east wall is a triplet of lancets under a main external half-round arch which is moulded. The jambs have (modern) external stone shafts with carved capitals and moulded bases. On the inner face of the wall the window has an arcade or screen of three moulded arches with Purbeck marble free shafts, the intermediate with moulded round capitals and bases and the nook-shafts with foliated capitals and square abaci.

In the south wall is a single-light window with internal nook-shafts of Purbeck marble and moulded rear-arch, the abaci being continued as string-courses. The pointed head externally is moulded as the east window and has a hood-mould. The shafts have been restored. There is a restored plain string-course below the windows externally: it steps up on either side of the triplet and passes along the side of the north buttress, and around the south buttress and south wall.

The east wall is gabled and has a basic string-course: in it is a fairly large bull's-eye window with an elaborately moulded surround of two orders. A rather thin chasing on the east face of the transept suggests that possibly the roof was higher originally. The south wall has a corbel-table with trefoiled arches, etc., as in the east arm. Inside the chamber there is also a moulded string-course below the sill-level on the east, north and south walls.

In the south wall is a piscina, with an octofoiled basin in a semi-octagonal projecting sill; the recess is square-headed.

The room above the Canons' Vestry is a store-room approached from the stair-vice south of the east arm. While the west face of its western arch, already described, is of fine-jointed Caen stone, the eastern halves of its responds and the masonry of the south wall are of much older wide-jointed rough ashlar. The roof is a comparatively modern one with collar-beam trusses. There are no traces of a former apse.

North of the chapel, and at one time communicating with it as well as with the south aisle, is the small chamber, supposed to have been a 'watching chamber,' now known as the Priest-Vicars' Vestry. It is about 11 ft. east to west by 8½ ft. The east wall at the ground stage, between the north buttress of the Canons' Vestry and the shallow buttress of the aisle, is recessed outside because it is thinner than either of the buttresses, but it is brought out to the greater thickness by a pointed arch of square section over the recess. South of it externally at impost level is a length of plain string-course. The filling of the recess contains a tall, narrow, square-headed light with chamfered and splayed jambs. Above the recess and to the south are two small windows, one over the other, with trefoiled square heads and segmental-pointed rear-arches; presumably there were once upper floors or galleries which have now disappeared. A recess, now a cupboard, in the south wall may have been a doorway from the chapel.

The original corbel-tabling of the north side of the Canons' Vestry can be seen inside the chamber, with plain and moulded corbels, and at the east end of the south wall is a buttress cut away in the lower 12 ft. or 13 ft. Below the east light is a pair of square recesses with stop-chamfered jambs.

The wall west of the vestry contains a stair-vice leading to the triforium, etc. The northern half of this wall is of early-12th-century masonry, but the southern half is of fine-jointed ashlar, a later filling up of the space between the stair-vice and the Canons' Vestry. A string-course, below the blocked window, already described with the south aisle, which was also returned along the older part of the west wall, has been roughly hacked away.

On the walls are visible the grooves of the former pent-roof of the vestry, which reached the transeptwall level with the corbel-table of the Canons' Vestry. The present higher flat roof is modern.

Among the monuments in the south arm of the transept are several of extreme interest.

The largest is the sacellum and tomb under the south arch of the crossing, attributed to Robert Stratford, Chancellor of England, and Bishop of Chichester from 1337 to 1362. The sacellum was taken down in 1860 with the Arundel screen, and its existence seems to have been practically forgotten. The tomb with the effigy was also removed for safety before the fall of the spire, and therefore shows no signs of damage. When the question arose as to the reconstruction of the Arundel screen early in this century, and an examination was made of the many stones that were stored in various places, it was discovered that the collection included those of the sacellum. Its stones were numbered and marked as though it was the intention to replace them at some future date. The rough backs of the quire stalls left bare by its removal had in the meantime been concealed by the large paintings of Bernardi. It was decided to rebuild the sacellum in its original position above the altar-tomb which had been hitherto ascribed to St. Richard de Wych (fn. 12) and to remove the paintings to the west wall of the transept where they were originally. This scheme was carried out in 1904, but the pinnacles were only added in 1907, and the crested panelling which originally ran behind the pinnacles has not been replaced.

The sacellum consists of three vaulted bays, open to the south, with the altar-tomb under the middle bay. The three arches have large sub-cusped trefoiled heads under ogee-arched labels which are enriched with crockets and foliated finials. The cusp-points of the main foils are curiously carved with winged monsters, angels, a priest and a winged lion. They are carried on half-round shafts with moulded bases and foliated capitals, which are engaged with the small rectangular piers that flank and separate the bays. The piers have panelled and moulded imposts and are continued upwards and finished with moulded cappings and pointed pinnacles with crockets and finials. The masonry above the arches is finished with a moulded cornice and cresting above which the pinnacles and finials rise. The end piers have shields with the date 1907, when the stonework above the cornice was added. The soffit is vaulted in quadripartite plan in three bays with plain chamfered diagonal and ridge-ribs, and double-chamfered and hollowed wall-ribs. They are carried on the solid back or north wall on triple shafts which have moulded bases and carved and moulded capitals; the bosses at the intersections are carved in various designs, two with roses, another with four lions' masks, another with a man's head spouting leaves from its mouth and others with foliage. It has been suggested that this was the chancel screen before the Arundel screen was erected.

The altar-tomb has panelled sides and ends; the long sides have narrow panels, alternating with wider panels in which are 'weepers' or figures of canons and priests, some holding books; the ends have a wide panel between two narrow ones. All the south front and the two ends have been 'restored' with plaster, but the north side, which is about a foot clear of the back wall, is ancient with the remains of defaced 'weepers.' On the top is the recumbent effigy, 6 ft. 8 in. long, in white stone, of the bishop in mitre and full vestments, his left hand holding a pastoral staff and his right hand raised in blessing, his head resting on a cushion supported by angels and his feet resting on a dog. His nose has been restored.

On either side within the sacellum are two wall monuments, one to Charles Eamer Kempe, 1907, and the other to Herbert Edward Jones, Bishop of Lewes, 1920. There is a floor brass to Dean J. W. Burgon, 1888.

In the east wall of the transept is a late-15th or early-16th-century tomb and recess of Petworth marble. The top slab is moulded and the base is panelled in alternating wide and narrow bays, the latter having shields with indents for brasses. The jambs of the recess have engaged shafts against square piers or buttresses and the reveals are panelled. The arch is of a depressed-ogee form with fifteen foils and is set under a slightly higher moulded label also of depressed-ogee form, and decorated with crockets. The tympanum between the two is traceried. The masonry above has a range of trefoiled panels, all flanked by crocketed pinnacles above the buttresses and under a moulded cornice with cresting. The soffit of the recess is panelled in a series of foiled interlacing circles. In the back are the indents of the brasses of a kneeling man and two women, a central figure (a Trinity ?) and the inscription plate. Flanking the recess are two rough niches apparently robbed of their dressings, the northern of stone, the southern partly of 16th or 17th-century brick. Adjoining on the south side is the site of what was known as Bishop Sherburne's altar.

Under the great south window is the tomb and recess ascribed to John Langton, Bishop from 1305 to 1337. The base is panelled in lattice form with the centres of the panels carved with mitres and lions' heads. The top slab and plinth are moulded. The jambs of the recess have triple shafts, the middle shaft filleted, with moulded capitals enriched in the bells with slender running foliage and in the abaci with pellets. The arch is two-centred and has five subcusped foils with foliage cusp-points, under an ogee-arched label with vigorous crockets. The recess is flanked by panelled piers or buttresses set diagonally, finished at the top with gabled heads and crocketed pinnacles. The soffit has moulded wall-ribs, but is otherwise quite plain, as is also the back of the recess.

The effigy, which is shorter than the recess, shows a bishop in a low mitre and vestments, all of hard white limestone. It is much damaged; the hands and nearly all the crozier are missing. The head rests on a cushion, supported by much-mutilated angels. The feet rest on a unicorn. It is worth noticing that this effigy, which is 7ft. 1 in. long, is of an early-14th-century appearance and, while it is too short for this tomb, it fits exactly the tomb-recess in the south wall of the Lady Chapel. (fn. 13) Above the tomb is a 17th-century painted board with a record of the bishop's life and work.

Next westward is a tomb and canopied recess of the 16th century. (fn. 14) The top slab has a moulded edge and the front has foiled narrow and square quatrefoil panels, the latter with shields containing the rivet holes for former brasses. The recess above is of less width than the tomb and has octagonal side-shafts with concave faces and moulded bases and capitals; on these are half-round engaged shafts carrying an elliptical flat arch which has a semi-octagonal key-block. The panelled reveals are canted and the soffit has a row of quatrefoiled circles inclosing diamond-shaped foliage bosses. At the back are the indents of two kneeling figures with scroll-prayers, and probably a Virgin and Child. Above the arch is a frieze of foiled trellis pattern and a cornice enriched with paterae and foliage, the top being finished with cresting.

On a stone bench, or perhaps part of a plain tomb, next westward lies a broken slate slab in which is a depression that may have been a mould for wafers; the design appears to be a horizontal band with a lion and a human figure, perhaps foliage above and below.

Westward of this again is a large canopied tomb and effigy of John Abel Smith of Dale Park (d. 1842) and on the back of the recess a brass to his widow, Emma, daughter of Egerton Leigh of High Leigh, Cheshire (d. 1851).

On the west wall is a wooden panel in a moulded frame with an inscription to Henry King, second son of Henry, Bishop of Chichester, 1668–9. Also a similar wooden panel inscribed as 'A Memoriall of the Names of such Honourable worthy and Pious Persons who have Freely and Bountifully Contributed to y^e Repairing and Beautifying of ye Cathedrall Church of ye Holy Trinity in Chichester with ye severall summes of mony by them given, 1664.' There follows a list of 43 names, headed by Bryan, Lord Bishop of Winchester, and Henry, Lord Bishop of Chichester, with the moneys or silver vessels given by them to a total value of £1,780. 'All the money above Mentioned was expended in Repairing and Beautifying the Fabrick of ye Church and ye Accounts thereof were Examin'd and Approved in ye Visitations of Bishop Brideoke A.D. 1677 and of Bishop Lake A.D. 1686.'

There are also mural monuments to Frederick J. Read, organist, 1925; to Percy Joseph Hiscock, 1900; to George Hiscock, 1919; and to Henry Holding Moore, 1911.

East of the sacellum stands a 15th-century oak cupboard with a four-centred door-head under a concavesided gable which is enriched with crockets, etc. In the tympanum is a niche with a cinquefoiled head and a moulded bracket. The gable is flanked by other cinquefoiled recesses under a moulded cornice with carved cresting and pinnacles. The cupboard has side buttresses with moulded bases and offsets and crocketed pinnacles. The door is hung with three plain strap-hinges. The sill is raised on a plain base or box and is pierced by a slot. This 'machine,' as Professor Willis called it, is supposed to have been made to contain relics and the slot in the sill was for the 'gifts of the faithful.'

The arch to the Canons' Vestry has an oak traceried screen of seventeen bays with double doors. It is largely modern, but has some parts of 15th-century date. It is said to have been formerly in the archway to the library in the north arm.

In the archway above the Canons' Vestry is a low closed screen of eleven bays, which also in part appears to be of the 15th century; it may have been the front of a desk or pew originally.

On the west wall are mounted the two large paintings on wood executed by the Bernardi family for Bishop Sherburne. The southern represents St. Wilfred founding the see of Selsey in the year 680. The saint, whose name appears in a panel below, is represented in a red cope (?) with ermine lining and collar, holding a scroll on which are the words of the petition: 'Da Servis dei locū habitationis propter deum.' There is a group of canons behind him, one holding his mitre, another his crozier. King Ceadwalla, in golden robes and crown and holding his sceptre, is pointing with his left hand to an open book, held by a courtier, on which is inscribed 'Fiat sicut petitur.' Behind the king are men and women of his retinue. The background shows presumably the king's palace, and in the distance a church with a tower on the banks of a river or inlet.

The northern painting shows Bishop Sherburne petitioning Henry VIII for a confirmation of the charter. The bishop is dressed similarly to St. Wilfred. Behind him are several canons, one holding his mitre, another his pastoral staff and a book. The bishop holds the end of a scroll inscribed: 'Sanctissime Rex propter deum confirma Ecclesiam tuam Cicestren' Cathedralem sicut Cedwalla rex Sussexie Ecclesiam Selesien' olim Cathedralem confirmavit.' The king, dressed in a red doublet and fur-lined cloak and wearing his cap of estate and a crown, indicates with his right hand an open book, held by a courtier, inscribed 'Pro amore Ihu Xpi quod petis concedo.' Beside the king is another crowned personage and behind them several courtiers. Below are the initials R S and the motto 'Operibvs credite,' and before the bishop his quartered shield of arms. The background is presumably the royal palace. On a frieze above the whole is an inscription: 'Confiteantur tibi omnes Reges terre quia tu es Rex magnus super omnes Reges. Necta (fn. 15) est via que ducit ad vitam.'

Ranging with the large paintings is an extension to the north in which are four oval medallions: the top dexter contains a portrait of James I, the other three inscribed with the names of Charles I, Mary I, and Elizabeth are blanks.

Another long panel below is painted at the south end with a long Latin inscription in twelve lines giving an account of St. Wilfred's life, and north of this a series of circular medallions; the first, a large one, contained a portrait of William the Conqueror, but most of it has been obliterated. The others, in two rows each of ten medallions, contain the portraits of the English Kings from William II to Edward VI, but several, although they are named in the surrounding inscriptions, are missing. The medallions left blank are those for Henry III, Edward II, Edward V, Richard III and Henry VIII. All have crowns and sceptres.

On the north wall, west of the Stratford sacellum, are later medallions, portraits of Charles II, William III, Mary II, Anne, and George I. James II is left blank. The original paintings have been much restored, and obviously some of the portraits are later additions. (fn. 16) The other set of paintings by Bernardi, the 'portraits' of the Bishops of Selsey and Chichester, are mounted on the north wall of the north arm. The series begins with St. Wilfred and finishes with Bishop Sherburne himself—fifty-seven in all. Presumably the last is a real likeness, and the features of the others bear a general resemblance to it. The series is interrupted by a panel with a long inscription relating to the life of St. Richard de Wych, (fn. 17) and another panel at the east end with an account of Bishop Sherburne closes the whole. (fn. 18)

By the west wall of the north arm is a medieval oak chest 8 ft. 8 in. long and 1 ft. 4 in. in height and depth. It has a heavy lid with plain strap hinges and stiffeners and is fitted with five locks.

There are mural monuments in the north transept to Rachel, wife of George Harris, 1734, and Alderman George Harris, 1741; to Eliza Emily, wife of Rt. Hon. William Huskisson, 1856 (by John Gibson, R.A.); to Francis and Charlotte, children of William Mitford, 1853 (brass); to Guy Carleton, Bishop of Chichester, 1685, and his daughter, 1683; to Henry King, Bishop of Chichester, 1669, and John King, his eldest son; to Robert Grove, Bishop of Chichester, 1696; to Thomas Weelkes, 1623 (modern tablet); and a floor slab to Frederick Joseph William Crow, 1921. Against the north wall are three stone coffin-lids without marks.

The Sacristy, or Singing School, occupies the angle of the transept with the south aisle of the nave, and reaches to the south porch and cloister. Its angles are not square, but its average length from east to west is 35 ft. by 26½ ft. north to south, and it has two bays of vaulting.

Projecting into the chamber on its north side is one of the late-12th-century buttresses to the south aisle, and on the east side another against the transept wall. The space between the north side of the last buttress and the south aisle wall is filled in flush by the side of the 15th-century stair-turret, which leads up to the chapter house; a straight joint marks the junction. South of it is the original shallow buttress to the transept, cut away above a line about 8 ft. high.

The vaulting is a modification of the usual quadripartite plan. Advantage is taken of the north buttress to reduce the span of the intermediate cross-rib, but owing to the great length of the west wall the vaulting against it is divided into two bays, making the whole west bay of five compartments instead of four. The same treatment is followed against the east wall as far as possible in spite of the encroachment of the stair-turret and transept buttress. The ribs are merely of plain chamfered section and spring from wall-corbels which are carved with foliage of a more free character than that of the late-12th or early-13th-century vaulting in the church. At the central intersections are small bosses of irregular outline, the eastern carved with a woman-headed monster and the western with three human faces, the middle, of a woman with a wimple, the outer two of men; below them are small beasts.

In the south wall are two ranges of windows: the lower range is of four narrow lancets, two in each bay, with rebated jambs for shutters, the hooks still in place; the internal splays are of an unusually obtuse angle; the rear-arches are semicircular. The sills are sloping, but in the easternmost is set a square sink or lavatory basin. The upper windows are two larger lancets with fairly wide internal splays; externally they are of two orders, the inner chamfered and the outer square with engaged stone shafts. The capitals are carved and the abaci continue as string-courses; the arches are moulded with one bowtell or roll, instead of the more complicated section seen in the earlier windows of this type in the cathedral.

In the south bay of the west wall is a similar window looking into the cloister. Below is a blocked lancet like the others, but mostly restored, forming a recess towards the cloister but walled in flush towards the sacristy; the outline of its semicircular head can be traced in the walling. The north wall is of whitened masonry with wide jointing.

The east entrance, through the 6 ft. thick west wall of the transept, is fitted with two oak doors, one towards the transept and the other on the inner face towards the sacristy. The former is hung with plain strap-hinges, but is also fitted with wrought-iron stiffeners with foliations, probably of the 13th century: the door is of plain battens with rough horizontal ledges at the back.

The inner door is nail-studded and of wide feathered battens, with half-round rails at the back. It is mounted on three plain strap-hinges and also has incised strap stiffeners, probably of the 16th century. The middle battens, which were cut to fit an arch, and the outer battens have been lengthened to make the door square-headed, but it originally hung in the thickness of the wall under the rear-arch, which was cut away on the north side to allow it to open. The three hooks for the hinges still remain in position. It was re-hung in its present position when the south reveal of the doorway was repaired and altered in modern times.

In the south reveal of the entrance is another doorway leading to the south-west stair-vice of the transept. It has a modern door, but in the east reveal are the hooks for hinges of a former door and the socket for a draw-bar.

The upper story of this building, now the Chapter House, (fn. 19) is approached by a large spiral staircase, at the angle of the transept with the south aisle. This stair has been much restored. The doorway from the aisle has double-ogee moulded jambs of two orders divided by a three-quarter hollow, and a fourcentred arch. It is modern except in the west jamb.

It is evident that there was an earlier upper story to the sacristy, from the outline of the steeply-pitched gable of the former roof to be seen on the west wall of the transept inside the chapter house. Bishop Langton may possibly have been responsible for this earlier upper story, but it is more probable that it belonged to the period of the sacristy itself. There are no other traces of it, and it must have been entirely removed to make room for the higher chamber erected in the 15th century. In the south wall are two tall windows each of three cinquefoiled lights and vertical tracery under a segmental arched head. The jambs and the arch are moulded and have wide casement-hollows. In the west wall is a window, similar except that it has a four-centred arch to the head. The east wall (the west wall of the transept) shows the original shallow buttress finishing about 3 ft. below the roof: above it is an original string-course, partly missing. Next to the north of it is the deeper buttress of the second period, which goes right up through the roof. The entrance from the stair-vice is by a four-centred doorway set in a kind of porch of greater projection than the buttress south of it, and having a parapet with a moulded coping. Over the doorway of the face of the porch is a straight joint in the form of a low-pitched gablet.

The roof is a modern flat-pitched structure of four bays with chamfered principal beams and longitudinal rafters: some of the latter appear to be old timbers re-used.

The walls are of fine-jointed ashlar, except the east wall; there are two buttresses at the south-west angle and one intermediate south buttress of three stages with moulded plinths of a 15th-century form and plain offsets. The courses of the buttresses range with the courses of the upper story, but not with those of the lower.

The floor of the chamber is partly paved with some ancient green-glazed tiles, 6¼ in. square, set diagonally, and at the north-east corner is a patch of yellow and black tiles, 5 in. square.

The walls are lined with a high dado of oak panelling which is dated 1910 but incorporates some ancient panels and includes a sliding panel near the north-west corner that conceals a four-centred doorway opening into the chamber over the south porch. Here is supposed to have been the secret treasury chamber of the cathedral.

In the middle of the west end is the dean's canopied high-backed stall, which is in part of 15th-century date; it has shaped standards with foliated heads and the covered canopy has a moulded cornice. In the chamber is a 13th-century carved oak chest of hutch type on legs, which measures 4 ft. 3 in. long, 2 ft. 1 in. wide and 2 ft. 6 in. high. The end styles of the front are carved with rosettes and the feet with half quatrefoils; there is also a rosette on the middle board of the front. Half of the lid is modern. Another chest of hutch type is of the 16th century. The front is carved with swags of drapery through suspended rings and, below, scrolls of conventional foliage; there is also similar foliage at the ends. A third chest has no lid. The front is a plain board: the ends are closely framed with stop-chamfered muntins and plain rails into nine panels. It is bound by four cross-straps which have round ends stamped with sexfoil sinkings. This chest may be of early-15th-century date.

On the walls are portraits of Charles II, James II, Queen Anne, William and Mary, George I, and George II.