The Abbey-Church Of St. Peter At Westminster Appears To Be Very
Ancient, Though Far From Being So Ancient As Is Vulgarly Reported.
Some relate, without any authority to support the conjecture, that
it was founded in the days of the Apostles by St. Peter himself;
others that it was erected by King Lucius about the year 170.
And
by some it is said to have been built by King Sebert, the first
Christian king of the East-Saxons (Essex and Middlesex), anno 611.
But I take it for granted the church was not built before the
convent or abbey it belonged to. People did not use to build
churches at a distance from town, unless for the service of convents
or religious houses. But neither in the times of the Apostles, nor
in the supposed reign of King Lucius, in the second century, was
there any such thing as a convent in England, or perhaps in any part
of Christendom. During the dominion of the Saxons in this island,
monasteries indeed were erected here, and in many other kingdoms, in
great abundance; and as the monks generally chose thick woods or
other solitary places for their residence, where could they meet
with a spot of ground fitter for their purpose than this woody
island called Thorney, then destitute of inhabitants? But I am
inclined to think that neither this or any other monastery was
erected in South Britain till the seventh century, after Austin the
monk came into England. As to the tradition of its having been
built upon the ruins of the temple of Apollo, destroyed by an
earthquake, I do not doubt but the monks were very ready to
propagate a fable of this kind, who formed so many others to show
the triumphs of Christianity over paganism, and to induce their
proselytes to believe that heaven miraculously interposed in their
favour by earthquakes, storms, and other prodigies. But to proceed.
When the convent was erected, I make no doubt that there was a
church or chapel built as usual for the service of the monks; but it
is evident from history that the dimensions of the first or second
church that stood here were not comparable to those of the present
church.
We may rely upon it that about the year 850 there was a church and
convent in the island of Thorney, because about that time, London
being in the possession of the Danes, the convent was destroyed by
them (not in the year 659, as some writers have affirmed, because
the Danes did not invade England till nearly 200 years afterwards).
The abbey lay in ruins about a hundred years, when King Edgar, at
the instance of Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury (and afterwards
Archbishop of Canterbury), rebuilt this and several other
monasteries, about the year 960. Edward the Confessor, a devout
prince, enlarged this church and monastery, in which he placed the
Benedictine monks, ordered the regalia to be kept by the fathers of
the convent, and succeeding kings to be crowned here, as William the
Conqueror and several other English monarchs afterwards were, most
of them enriching this abbey with large revenues; but King Henry
III. ordered the church built by Edward the Confessor to be pulled
down, and erected the present magnificent fabric in the room of it,
of which he laid the first stone about the year 1245.
That admired piece of architecture at the east end, dedicated to the
Virgin Mary, was built by Henry VII., anno 1502, and from the
founder is usually called Henry the VII.'s Chapel. Here most of the
English monarchs since that time have been interred.
The dimensions of the abbey-church, according to the new survey, are
as follows, viz.:- The length of the church, from the west end of it
to the east end of St. Edward's Chapel, is 354 feet; the breadth of
the west end, 66 feet; the breadth of the cross aisle, from north to
south, 189 feet; the height of the middle roof, 92 feet; the
distance from the west end of the church to the choir, 162 feet; and
from the west end to the cross aisle, 220 feet; the distance from
the east end of St. Edward's Chapel to the west end of Henry VII.'s
Chapel, 36 feet; and the length of Henry VII.'s Chapel, 99 feet: so
that the length of the whole building is 489 feet; the breadth of
Henry VII.'s Chapel, 66 feet; and the height, 54 feet. The nave and
cross aisles of the abbey-church are supported by fifty slender
pillars, of Sussex marble, besides forty-five demi-pillars or
pilasters. There are an upper and lower range of windows, being
ninety-four in number, those at the four ends of the cross very
spacious. All which, with the arches, roofs, doors, &c., are of the
ancient Gothic order. Above the chapiters the pillars spread into
several semi-cylindrical branches, forming and adorning the arches
of the pillars, and those of the roofs of the aisles, which are
three in number, running from east to west, and a cross aisle
running from north to south. The choir is paved with black and
white marble, in which are twenty-eight stalls on the north side, as
many on the fourth, and eight at the west end; from the choir we
ascend by several steps to a most magnificent marble altarpiece,
which would be esteemed a beauty in an Italian church.
Beyond the altar is King Edward the Confessor's Chapel, surrounded
with eleven or twelve other chapels replenished with monuments of
the British nobility, for a particular whereof I refer the reader to
the "Antiquities of St. Peter, or the Abbey-Church of Westminster,"
by J. Crull, M.D. Lond. 1711, 8vo, and the several supplements
printed since; and shall only take notice of those of the kings and
queens in the chapel of St. Edward the Confessor, which are as
follows, viz., Edward I., King of England; Henry III.; Matilda, wife
of Henry I.; Queen Eleanor, wife of Edward I.; St. Edward the
Confessor, and Queen Editha, his wife; Henry V., and Queen Catherine
of Valois, his wife; Edward III., and Queen Philippa, his wife;
Richard II., and Queen Anne, his wife.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 25 of 40
Words from 24633 to 25685
of 40922
