Cathedral Church Of Christ And The Blessed Virgin Mary

The Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary is a former Benedictine abbey church founded for St Werburgh. It stands on the site of a Saxon minster established in or before 958. The present structure developed over many centuries, with major building campaigns around 1100 under Abbot Richard, through the 12th and 13th centuries, during 1260–1280 under Abbot Simon of Whitchurch, the 14th century, the late 15th century under Abbot Simon Ripley, the early 16th century, and the early 17th century under Bishop Bridgeman. Significant restorations and additions followed: 1818–20 by Thomas Harrison, from 1844 by Richard Cromwell Hussey, from 1868 by Sir George Gilbert Scott and his son George Gilbert Scott junior, from 1882 by Sir Arthur Blomfield and Charles James Blomfield, 1911–13 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, and 1939 by Frederick Herbert Crossley. The detached belfry of 1974–5 by George Gawne Pace is not included in this listing. The building forms a cruciform plan comprising a nave, north-west tower, consistory court, south porch, central tower, south and north transepts, choir, high altar, Lady Chapel, and other chapels. The cathedral church, cloister, and adjacent monastic buildings are described below, working anti-clockwise from the west end.

West Front and North-West Tower

The west front incorporates an attached north-west wing built in the 1880s by Blomfield above an early 13th-century undercroft. This wing conceals the incomplete north-west tower of around 1140 from external view. The lower masonry of the nave front is partly around 1300, now largely concealed. The entrance has a recessed doorway, niches, an angel frieze, and the Assumption. The eight-light panel-tracery west window is probably late 15th century, attributed to Abbot Simon Ripley's time. Restoration and alterations in the 1860s by Sir George Gilbert Scott include crenellation and an octagonal turret.

South-West Tower and Consistory Court

The consistory court occupies the stump of the unfinished south-west tower. It has a four-light panel-tracery window facing west and another facing south, each with a niche to either side and ogee moulding above, dating from around 1500, restored. The two-storey south porch abutting the court is also around 1500, retaining the original inner doorway. The fan vault inside is by George Gilbert Scott junior. The upper storey has a niche between a pair of two-light leaded windows, heavily restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

South Side of Nave and South Transept

The south side of the nave has four four-light aisle windows from the 1840s by Hussey, and six five-light panel-tracery clerestory windows with ogees and hoodmoulds. Crenellation, pinnacles, and flying buttresses are by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The south transept, which also served as St Oswald's parish church, has two aisles. Its west side has four four-light panel-tracery aisle windows and five four-light panel-tracery clerestory windows with ogee hoodmoulds. Pinnacled flying buttresses and crenellation are by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The south end has an arched oak door on ornate hinges to the west aisle, surmounted by a four-light flowing-tracery window with ogee hoodmould and a 19th-century figure of a saint in a niche. Square turret-buttresses to the main transept, 1818 by Thomas Harrison, flank the seven-light curvilinear window of 1887 by Blomfield. The end of the east aisle resembles the west aisle but with a crocketed gable-shaped hoodmould to the window and no doorway. The east side of the transept has four curvilinear aisle windows of four lights under gable-shaped crocketed hoodmoulds, five four-light panel-tracery clerestory windows, and, by Sir George Gilbert Scott, pinnacled flying buttresses and crenellation.

Central Tower and Choir

The central tower was remodelled, turreted, and crenellated by Sir George Gilbert Scott, with paired bell-openings under ogee hoodmoulds. The south side of the choir has an oak priests' door on ornate hinges, four Geometrical windows to the aisle (two of four lights, one of five lights, and one of three lights). The polygonal apse has four Geometrical two-light windows. A very high and steep stone roof covers the east end of the apse, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott. Gargoyles and a pierced parapet with four pinnacles are present. The east end of the choir has a pair of octagonal corner-turrets with crocketed pinnacles by Scott, topped with a weather vane.

Lady Chapel and North-East Chapels

The late 13th-century three-bay Lady Chapel has triple lancets between gabled buttresses, probably embellished by Scott. The east end has quintruple lancets, and in the gable above, triple lancets and two empty niches. The two-bay north-east Chapel of St Werburgh has a five-light panel-tracery east window and two four-light north windows.

North Side of Choir and North Transept

The north face of the choir has four Geometrical four-light aisle windows, stepped buttresses, a plain parapet, and, to the east, a square stair-turret with a hipped stone roof. The clerestory has quatrefoil tracery in five four-light windows, with a quatrefoil-pierced parapet. The sacristy, formerly a chapel east of the north transept, has triple lancets in an arched panel and a small gable-lancet above. The north transept has two panel-tracery four-light clerestory windows. The south-west corner of the chapter-house abuts the north-east corner of the transept, whose north face has corner-buttresses, a high-level seven-light panel-tracery window, and a panelled crenellated parapet to end and side. The west side has two four-light windows with simple tracery.

North Side of Nave

The north side of the nave, above the adjoining cloister roof, has five simply-traceried four-light aisle windows, a simple slate lean-to roof, flying buttresses, and seven panel-tracery four-light clerestory windows under a plain parapet.

Interior: North-West Tower (Baptistry)

The incomplete north-west tower of around 1140, now the baptistry, has scalloped capitals to stepped round arches on shafts with some keeled mouldings. The mosaic floor of 1885 was designed by Dean Howson and made by Burke and Company. The carved rectangular font in Victorian Early Christian style, presented by Earl Egerton of Tatton in 1885, stands here.

Entrance Bay and West End

The entrance bay to the nave, between the west towers, is much restored but retains possibly original blank arcading from around 1300. The west window contains glass of 1961 by William Thomas Carter Shapland depicting Mary, northern saints, and Lady Aethelflaed of Mercia. A black marble bowl-on-baluster font dates from 1697. Monuments include those to Bishop Hall, died 1668; John and Thomas Wainwright, 1686 and 1720, designed but not executed by William Kent for Bishop George Berkeley; Sir William Mainwaring, 1671; Bishop Stratford, 1708; Edward Entwistle, 1712; Mrs Dod, 1723; Dean William Smith, 1787, by Thomas Banks; Major Thomas Hilton, 1829; John Ford, 1835, and his wife; Richard Barnston, 1838, by John Blayney in Gothic style; and Richard Bickerstaff, 1841, by Blayney.

Consistory Court Interior

The consistory court in the stump of the south-west tower has a screen to the nave and full furnishings from the early 17th century for Bishop Bridgeman.

Nave

The six-bay nave has a south arcade of the mid-14th century and a north arcade largely designed to match it, built 1485–93 for Abbot Simon Ripley, with his monogram on the west respond capital. The east bay of each arcade has continuous mouldings. The shafts, triforiums, and clerestorys above each arcade slope outward. The vaults to nave and aisles were replaced in timber by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The north aisle wall is of early 12th-century masonry visible from the cloister, covered internally by mural mosaics depicting Abraham, Moses, David, and Elijah, designed by John Richard Clayton and made by Burke and Company, 1883–6. The lectern of 1875 is by Skidmore; the pulpit of 1840 by Richard Cromwell Hussey; stalls in the east bay of 1966 by George Pace. The south aisle has a window of 1862 by William Wailes. Memorial tablets on the aisle wall include, from the west: Edward Jones, 1834, and family; Canon Francis Casson, 1838; Doctor John Ford, 1807; Lucy Jodrell, 1808; Mayor Peter Broster, 1811, and family; Alan Holford, 1788, and wife; Edward Wilson, 1804, and grand-daughter; John Vernon, 1797, and wife; Augusta, daughter of Bishop George Law and wife of Prebendary John Slade, 1822; Jane Vernon, 1775, and son Ralph; Charles Potts, 1817, and family; Richard Winicombe, Life Guards Trumpeter, 1787; George Ogden aged one, 1741; William Carter, verger, 1752, and widow; John Lloyd and family, 1844, and others; Henry Potts, 1845, and family; Edward Oliver Wrench, 1821, and family; Reverend William Russell, 1792, and widow; George Clarke of Hyde, formerly Lieutenant-Governor of New York, 1760. On the east column of the south arcade are memorials to William Nicholls, 1809, and family; John Potter, 1715; Ann Parsons, 1798; Thomas Griffiths, 1798, and wife.

South Transept

The five-bay south transept of around 1340 has a west aisle containing monuments and an east aisle with each bay forming a chapel. The south chapel has sedilia and piscina in its south wall and a medieval rib vault. The other vaults were rebuilt largely in timber by Sir Arthur Blomfield around 1887. The piers are similar to those of the choir and slope outward as they rise, as do the vault-shafts. The stained glass south window, The Triumph of Faith, is 1887 by Heaton, Butler and Bayne. Windows of the east aisle chapels, from the north, are 1876 by Heaton Butler and Bayne, 1890, 1892, and 1902 by Charles Eamer Kempe, and south window 1890 by Clayton and Bell. In the west aisle, the north window is 1892 by Powell and the second window 1904 by Kempe. The free-standing monument to Hugh Lupus, first Duke of Westminster, 1902 by Charles James Blomfield, has a recumbent effigy by Frederick William Pomeroy. Wall monuments on the south-west crossing pier include Charles Hawker, 1800, and Thomas Poole, 1818; Francis Phillips, a loyalist returned from New York, 1720–85; an inset elliptical tablet inscribed "JW, Feby 15th 1786"; a cenotaph to casualties in HMS Chester at the Battle of Jutland; and Mayor Thomas Greene, 1602. On the wall of the west aisle, from north: Cheshire Regiment cenotaph and memorial to Lieutenant-General Sir William Hastings Anderson, its Colonel 1894–1909; Thomas Brown, Colonel 1st Cheshire Royal Garrison Artillery Volunteers, 1906; Royal Air Force cenotaph; Free Czech Forces cenotaph; Joseph Brown, 1775, and family; Elizabeth Booth of Dunham Massey, 1734, aged 96; Catharine Booth, 1765, aged 93, and Martha Booth, 1718, and family; Captain John Charles Buchanan, 16th Light Dragoons, who fell at Waterloo; The Egertons and Egerton-Warburtons killed in the First World War; Vice-Admiral Wion de Malpas Egerton, killed in action 1943; Cotton Probert and wife, 1784; Francis Gibson, 1783, and wife; children of John and Anna Pirrepont; John Lowe, tobacconist, 1804, and wife; John Paul, honest publican, 1805; Richard Walls, 1719, and widow; Elizabeth Buchanan, 1837; Sarah Jarvis, 1748. On the south wall: John Hughes of Northop, 1745, and family; John Dunston, Constable of Chester Castle 1829–65, and wife; Anna Matthews, 1793; Thomas Fluitt, 1822, and family; Cheshire Regiment Boer War cenotaph; George Ogden, 1788, and wife; Lieutenant-General Sir Charles James Napier, 1853 (uncertain); Sir William Gerrarde, 1581; Major William John Wyley, Cheshire Regiment, 1915; Francis Townshend, 1776, and George Skipwith Townshend, 1801. The four transept chapels have wing walls carved with rolls of honour and, from north to south, reredoses by Walter Ernest Tower, by Charles Eamer Kempe carved at Oberammergau, and two designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.

Crossing and Choir Screen

The crossing piers are early 14th century. The screen to the choir is by Sir George Gilbert Scott, 1876, with gates made by Skidmore. The Rood of 1913 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott was made by Ferdinand Stuflesser. The choir aisle gates are from 1558 in Guadalajara, presented to Chester Cathedral in 1876. The organ screen and case on the north side, 1876, are by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The lantern stage has two blank arches to each side and wall-passage parapets pierced with quatrefoils as in the transepts. The ceiling was decorated by George Gawne Pace in the late 20th century.

Choir

The choir of five bays dates from around 1300, with the clerestory around 1350. The late 14th-century stalls, with fine misericords, richly carved bench-ends and canopies, some restored in the 1870s, are of high quality and interest. The floor mosaic and reredos east of the choir, 1876, are by John Richard Clayton. The Cathedra of 1876 was designed by Scott and made by Farmer and Brindley. An early 17th-century lectern and early 17th-century candlesticks by Censore of Bologna are present. The east window of 1884 is by Heaton Butler and Bayne. The vault was replaced in timber by Sir George Gilbert Scott, decorated by Clayton and Bell. The aisle vaults are also by Scott.

South Choir Aisle (Chapel of St Erasmus)

The south aisle, now the Chapel of St Erasmus, was shortened by Scott around 1870 and given an apsidal east end. Two cusped recesses, sedilia, and piscina remain. Stained glass, from the west: two windows of 1852 by Wailes, one of 1850 designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and made by Hardman and Company, and, in the apse, 1872 by Clayton and Bell. Mosaics of 1879 were designed by John Richard Clayton and made by Antonio Salviati. A fresco of 1874 is by Clayton and Bell. Monuments include a tombchest around 1300; Bishop Peploe, died 1752; Thomas Brassey, railway builder, by Sir Arthur Blomfield 1882 with a bust pre-1877 by Michael Wagmiller; a strapwork memorial to Robert Bennett, died 1614, and, painted heraldically, to John Leche and Katharine Wynne, 1698, by Randle Holmes.

North Choir Aisle and Chapel of St Werburgh

The north choir aisle has two exposed bases of former round Romanesque columns from around 1090 and a 14th-century piscina. Glass, from the west: one window of 1863 by Clayton and Bell, one by Heaton Butler and Bayne of 1863, then four by Wailes, one of 1853 and three of 1859. A tablet designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield, carved by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm 1887, is to Bishop Jacobson; another by Joseph Turner is to George Travis, died 1797. The Chapel of St Werburgh east of the aisle is probably early 16th century, having two tierceron-vaulted bays. Glass of 1857 is by James Michael O'Connor. A recumbent effigy of Bishop John Graham, 1848–65, 1867, is by Kelly and Edwards, Chester architects.

Lady Chapel

The Lady Chapel east of the high altar, around 1260–80, is three-bay with tripartite vaulting shafts sloping sharply outward as they rise. The rib-vaults have three fine carved bosses: the Trinity, the Virgin and Child, and the murder of St Thomas Becket. Sedilia and piscina are present. St Werburgh's Shrine, behind the high altar, is of 14th-century stone, reconstructed by Blomfield. Stained glass of 1859 is by Wailes. Monuments include Archdeacon William Wrangham, 1846, by Hardman; brasses to Reverend Miles Davies Taylor, 1845, Puginesque, by Hardman, and Dean Joseph Samuel.

North Transept

The north transept of two bays dates from around 1100, with the clerestory 15th century. A simple early Norman archway leads to a chapel, now the sacristy, to the east, with six arches of contemporary triforium above and a piscina on the south. The north wall has an Early English doorway to the chapter house vestibule and a clerestory window by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The west wall has two plain blocked arches, formerly to the Romanesque triforium. A good oak ceiling has carved bosses. The organ screen and case of 1876 are by Sir George Gilbert Scott. Stained glass in the east clerestory windows of 1853 is by Wailes. A free-standing tombchest monument to John Pearson, bishop 1672–86, 1863, was designed by Sir Arthur William Blomfield, carved by Nicholas Earp, with a recumbent effigy by Matthew Noble. Wall monuments include a cenotaph to members of Cheshire (Earl of Chester's) Yeomanry slain in the Second World War; Samuel Peploe, diocesan chancellor around 1784, by Joseph Nollekens; Sir John Grey Egerton, 1825; Lieutenant Leonard William Halstead, Royal Irish Fusiliers, 1829, by Thomas Kelly; Captain William Walley, Royal Welch Fusiliers, 1827; Colonel Thomas George Egerton, 1835, by Francis Bedford; Randolph Caldecott, artist, 1846 Chester – 1886 Florida; Henry Trueman Moor, medical doctor, 1837; cenotaph to Boer War dead of Earl of Chester's Yeomanry; John Cawse Bridge, organist and choirmaster, 1929; Sibell Mary Countess Grosvenor, 1930; cenotaph to Cheshire Yeomanry dead of the First World War. At the corner with the nave aisle is a 17th-century whale-ivory Tree of Jesse.

Sacristy

East of the north transept, the sacristy of two bays, formerly a chapel, is around 1200. The ringed shafts have late Romanesque and stiff-leaf capitals to quadripartite vaults. The east window of St Anselm is by Arthur Kelsey Nicholson.