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surrounded by an aisle, like the Conqueror's Chapel and St. Bartholomew's Priory; and yet again the aisle had diverging chapels, like Westminster or Tewkesbury.

Very great difficulty was found in the excavation of this portion, and very many conjectures were offered during its progress; the final result has been the discovery of a most important example of a Norman apse, with a circumambient aisle and radiating chapels. We have clearly made out the foundations of an aisle running round the presbytery, with apses diverging to the north-east and south-east; and, finally, a projecting chapel has been discovered at the extreme east end, which has not been excavated all round, because the foundations of its eastern portion have been wholly removed. From the length of this chapel I cannot help suspecting that it is a later addition; but if so, it most probably supplanted a mere apse at the extreme end, like the other two. The discovery of these chapels has been made since my last visit.

The best preserved portion is to be found in the south aisle, where the foundations rise so high that part of the plinth of the external basement exists. The outer walls of the aisle have a double range of flat pilasters-a marked characteristic of the church throughout-the inner ones acting as vaulting shafts, the external of course as buttresses. We could not make out the form of the piers, except that there seemed signs of projections towards the aisle matching those in its own outer walls. We may therefore conclude that the aisles were vaulted, and consequently the triforium differently treated from that of the nave, where it is a mere pretence, as the aisle must always have included its full height. The basement on which the arcades stood exists for a considerable extent on the south side, and we could make out the height of the pavement, portions of whose tiling remained in situ.

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The south transept has been entirely exhumed. It had no eastern aisle, but one of the eastern apses so usually found in that position. A Decorated sepulchral arch at its extreme south was found to be of remarkable height, and exhibited clear signs of medieval whitewash. A Norman string above it, evidently in situ, which existed at the visit of the Cambrian Association, had been destroyed before the excavations commenced-so easily may important evidence on such points be lost. Whether the transepts had western

2 Compare Llandaff Cathedral, p. 52.

aisles is still uncertain; the fact that the eastern bay of the north aisle was destroyed with them looks as if they had; there are also some signs of jambs at the east end of the great southern addition; but it is not yet clear whether they are those of an original arcade, or of mere doorways between that addition and the south transept.

The whole of the foundations discovered seem, with the probable exception of the extreme eastern chapel, to be of the untouched Norman work; so that any later alterations must have been entirely confined to insertions in the superstructure. It is easy to imagine the general effect of the building, which, with the varied grouping of the two towers and of the numerous apses, must have been one of the most picturesque of its kind. The choir and presbytery, as an example of a very complicated arrangement on a very small scale, seem especially valuable.

The work is not yet so complete but that fresh discoveries may be expected; and, as I before said, some very important points have been made out since my last visit. I trust I may some day see Leominster again; in any case, should I learn anything worthy of note respecting the church, I will not fail to make it the subject of another communication to the Institute.

I may add another question with regard to Leominster Church. I argued in the Archæologia Cambrensis, that the Early English addition included the site of the present Decorated south aisle, on the ground that the piscina and both the doorways of the porch are of the former style. The idea has been suggested to me by Mr. Jewitt, which had also occurred to me independently, that it is more probable that the Decorated aisle was a farther addition, and that these portions were built up again. I am now inclined to accept this theory, on account of the thorough rebuilding which my former view obliges us to suppose within a century after the original addition. The whole work, even in the porch, is, with these exceptions, Decorated from the ground, and not merely, as usual, rebuilt from the window-sill; while the Early English architects of this very addition retained so much of the original Norman south aisle as suited their purpose. Unfortunately the evidence of the centre arcade, which would have decided the question, is lost, owing to a fire in the year 1699, which destroyed the original arches and the east end of this part of the church.

EDWARD A. FREEMAN.

NOTICES OF MEDIEVAL SCULPTURE AND WORKINGS

IN ALABASTER IN ENGLAND.

NUMEROUS tombs, effigies, and incised slabs of alabaster, are to be found in most parts of England, more particularly in the Midland counties; and pits of the material still exist at Chellaston, near Derby, and at Fauld, under Tutbury Castle, which have been worked time out of mind. "Marbellers in alabaster" are also mentioned as extensively employed at Burton-upon-Trent, from an early period, probably, to the end of the reign of Elizabeth. These facts lead to the conclusion, that an extensive and valuable branch of native industrial art, though now almost forgotten, once flourished in this kingdom.

The desire to invite attention to the use of this material by mediæval sculptors in England, rather than thoroughly to investigate so interesting a subject, has induced me to offer the following particulars. It is to be regretted, that in Stothard's beautiful work on Monumental Effigies, as also in many of the County histories, the material of which tombs and effigies are formed has not been precisely mentioned; and Mr. Gough, who is laudably accurate in such details, sometimes errs in designating the alabaster as white marble, as in the Beauchamp tomb at Warwick, one of the earliest examples, date about 1370; but, so carefully selected was the alabaster of that period, for monumental purposes, that it is scarcely distinguishable from Carrara marble.

The earliest specimen of ornamental carved works in alabaster is perhaps that still remaining in the Norman arch of the west doorway of Tutbury Church. "This arch," observes Mr. Garner, "has seven principal mouldings, of which the innermost but one is of alabaster; all are richly adorned with zig-zag, beak-head, flowered, and other devices."2 The most ancient remaining example, it is believed, of a purely sculptural character, is the cross-legged effigy, said to represent Sir John de Hanbury, in Hanbury Church, Staffordshire. Its date appears not later than 1240. The material, 1 Gough's Sep. Mon., vol i., part 2, p. 127.

2 Garner's Staffordshire, p. 143.

however, does not seem to have received much attention till a century or more later; but from about the middle of the 14th century, it came gradually into very general use. A fine and early example of this date is the Beauchamp tomb at Warwick, with the effigies of Thomas Earl of Warwick, who died in 1369, and his lady, with statuettes around the tomb. About the same period Sir Thomas Poynings, in his will, dated 48 Edward III., 1374, bequeaths his body to be buried in the midst of the choir of the Abbey of St. Radegund in Kent, and appoints that a fair tomb should be placed over his grave, with the image of a knight thereon, made of alabaster.3 Mr. Gough assigns a mutilated effigy in Radford Church, Notts, to Thomas Furnivall, who died 39 Edward III., 1369; but it is probably of later date. In the succeeding reigns, those of Richard II. and Henry IV., several fine examples occur, and amongst these may especially be noticed the beautiful tombs of Henry IV. and his Queen, at Canterbury; that of Ralph, Earl of Westmoreland, and his two Countesses, in Staindrop Church, co. Durham; and that of Thomas, Earl of Arundel and his Countess, in Arundel Church.* The monument in Old St. Paul's (as described by Dugdale) of John of Gaunt, who died in 1399, was of alabaster; the alabaster is stated to have been brought from Staffordshire. Tutbury and its vicinity was the property of John of Gaunt; and in the records of Tutbury Priory, Robert Earl of Derby is stated to have translated the remains of Henry de Ferrers, and deposited

3 Dugdale Bar. ii., p. 134.

4 In Bakewell Church is an elegant canopied niche of alabaster, containing the semi-effigies of Godfrey Foljambe, who died 1376, and his lady Avenal, 1383. (Lysons's Derbysh., p. ccxxv.) The same author has noticed alabaster effigies and tombs as existing in the following churches: Ashbourne, Longford, Newton Solney, Cubley, Barlborough, Dronfield, Norbury, Aston, Radborne, Kedleston, Duffield, &c.

In Lysons's Cheshire are engraved from Bunbury Church a fine tomb and effigy of Sir Hugh Calveley, 1394; and from Barthomley Church a tomb and effigy of Sir Robert Fulshurst and lady (Rich. II. or Hen. IV.), very similar in style and workmanship to the Arderne tomb at Elford, Staffordshire. Sir Robert fought at Poictiers, and died 13 Ric. II. In Notts, alabaster monuments are said to occur

In

(as I learn from Mr. Davis, of Shelton, Staffordshire,) at Willoughby-on-the-Wolds, Wollaston, Markham-on-Trent, Clifton, Ratcliff-on-Soar, East and West Leake, Stapleford, Strelley and Langar. Staffordshire, as in Derby and Notts, there is scarcely a church which does not contain alabaster tombs or effigies, and the observation may extend to the adjoining counties, the slabs there supplying the places of the monumental brasses of the eastern and southern counties. Ecclesiastical effigies, also of alabaster, of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, abound in most of our cathedral churches. At Tong, in Shropshire, are fine early alabaster tombs of the Vernons; and at Spilsby, in Lincolnshire, those of the Willoughbys of Eresby. See Gough, vol. i., part 2, pp. 187189.

the bones near to the high altar, where he erected a tomb of alabaster over them. During the recent excavations at Tutbury Church, in an apsidal east end, were discovered some blocks of alabaster, but without ornament. At the close of the 14th century an interesting fact is presented to our notice, in the exportation of the monument and effigy of John, Duke of Bretagne, first husband of Queen Joan of Navarre, for erection in Nantes Cathedral. He died November 1, 1399. For the honour of our country, observes Mr. Gough, it was executed by three English workmen, Thomas Colyn, Thomas Holewell, and Thomas Poppehowe, to whom the King, Henry IV., granted a passport to carry it over, February 9, 1408. This permission occurs in Rymer's Fœdera, and a representation of the tomb is given in Lobineau's Histoire de Bretagne, p. 498.5 This tomb existed till very lately at Nantes; but by a recent communication from M. Lecointre Dupont, of Poitiers, to Mr. G. B. Davis, of Shelton, Staffordshire, it appears to have been destroyed or removed. In character it was very similar to those of knights in England, of the same period; and, considering that it was executed by order of the Queen, it is not unlikely that the same artists, by whom this work was produced, were employed on some of the fine tombs above noticed. Although no mention is made of the locality in which these workmen lived, it is possible that they carried on their art in London, obtaining their material from Derbyshire or Staffordshire."

5 The effigy is described by Gough, Sep. Mon. vol. ii., part 2, p. 35. Some notion of the costume may be obtained from the representations given in Montfaucon, Mon. Franc. vol. iii., pl. 32; and a valuable drawing of the same subject may be found in the collection of French monuments bequeathed by Gough to the Bodleian, tome V., f. 40. The passport conceded by Henry IV., Feb. 24, 1408, is thus expressed::-"Pro Tumba nuper Ducis Britanniæ.-Rex universis et singulis admirallis, &c. Sciatis quod Nos, ad supplicationem carissimæ consortis nostræ, quæ ad quandam Tumbam Alabaustri, quam pro Duce Britanniæ defuncto, quondam viro suo, fieri fecit, in Bargea de Seynt Nicholas de Nantes, in Britannia, una cum tribus ligeorum nostrorum Anglicorum, qui eandem Tumbam operati fuerunt, videlicet, Thoma Colyn, Thoma Holewell et Thoma Poppehowe, ad Tumbam prædictam in ecclesia de Nantes in Britannia

assidendum et ponendum ad præsens ordinavit mittendum." It proceeds to grant safe conduct to John Guychard, master of the said barge, on his passage to Britanny, and return, &c. Rymer, Fod. vol. viii., pp. 510, 511.

In naming the exportation of this tomb to Mr. Tennant, the mineralogist of the Strand, he informed me that he had observed a tomb and effigy of alabaster in the church of St. Ursula, at Cologne, the material of which he noted as being in his belief British, from its peculiar texture and general appearance. The date of the tomb, however, appeared to be as late as 1659. I would suggest to members of the Institute, who are in the habit of visiting the continent, to note any similar examples; I feel convinced that few persons are aware of the extent to which these alabaster workings were carried on in various parts of England, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries.

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