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  • July 1, 1880
  • Page 19
  • OLD ST. PAUL'S.
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The Masonic Magazine, July 1, 1880: Page 19

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Page 19

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Old St. Paul's.

OLD ST . PAUL'S .

BT AN OLD MASON . THOSE of our readers who have pored over Dugdale , or lingered with Stow , or have perused Mr . William Longman ' s "Three Cathedrals , " will well know how very interesting is the history of our great city cathedrals . And as weas Freemasonsseem to have a special connection with Sir

Chris-, , topher Wren ancl the old Lodge of St . Paul ' s , I have long been wishful to put before the readers of the "Masonic Magazine a short , lucid , and connected history of the great building , without too much of a demand either on their patience or their time . In the Antiquary for June appears a very able lecture on this very subject by Edmund B . Ferrey , Esq ., before the St . Paul's Ecclesiastical Societyand

, as it seems in a remarkable way to combine the conditions ancl requirements I alluded to above , I extract from it those portions which serve to keep the history clearly ancl consecutively before us . To all students of Ecclesiastical Architectural History such a " resume " of facts is invaluable .

During the time of Bishop Mellitus , A . D . 603 , the first Cathedral was built by Ethelbert King of Kent , on the site of a Temple of Diana . This was destroyed in William the Conqueror ' s reign , though there may have been more than one Saxon structure , as such were easily damaged . In 1083 Bishop Maurice began , in Dugdale's words , "the foundations of a most magnificent pile—namely , all the body of tho Church with the north and south cross aisles . So stately and beautiful was it that it was worthily numbered among the most famous buiidings , tho vault or undercroft being of such extent , and the upper structure so large , that it was sufficient to contain a vast number of people . "

The nave of Old St . Paul ' s was somewhat like the grand Norman naves now existing at Ely , Peterborough , aud Norwich , where the triforinm is almost as wide as the nave arches under it , as we commouly find in early buildings in England . But ou the Continent , after the Romanesque period , the triforium never became a leading feature . I have little doubt the plan then consisted of nave and aisles , transepts , a short constructional choir with apsethe choir proper being principally under the tower—and a presbytery and sanctuary east of the same . There was also most probably a flat ceiling , as at Peterborough Cathedral oriinallyand still at Walthiun Abbey .

g , The succeeding Bishop , Richard do Belmeis ( about A . D . 1100 ) , is said to have spent on the fabric much out of his private means , but Dugdale does not particularise what portion of the work he executed . The vaulting to the nave was probably of wood , and carried out at a later date ( i . e ., about 125 ( 5 ) , when the ( l ying buttresses were added , and the clerestory windows renewed , as shown in a painting of the time of James I . in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries at Burlington House . In 1135 the first year of King Stephen's reignthe Cathedral was greatldamaged b

, , y y fire . In 1221 , Dugdale says , / 'I now return to the fabric , but principally the east part , the body of the church with the cross aisles being perfected long before , as is evident from the undercroft whereon it stood . " In this year the Early English steeple seems to have been finished . The Norman transepts , however , were not entirely pulled down , but cased , through not so completely as the Winchester Cathedral , where the Perpendicular arches encompass the Norman of the nave . The spire , according to Wren ' s calculation , was fifty feet

higher than that at Salisbury . Stow and Dugdale make it out even higher still . The table of the principal dimensions of the Cathedral , said by Dugdale to have been inscribed on a tablet hung up in the church in 1312 , do not seem accurate , as I shall show further on . A great rise of twelve steps led up to the choir , and six steps further eastward led u into the processioual path . These were necessitated , no doubt , by the existence of the No man crypt , which probably was never destroyed , though the building above it was rebuilt in the thirteenth century . In 1240 the choir was completed , Roger Niger being Bishop . His name , as also that of Bishop Maurice , ought to be identified with the Cathedral of which they were so great bene .

“The Masonic Magazine: 1880-07-01, Page 19” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 29 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmg/issues/mmg_01071880/page/19/.
  • List
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Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
Untitled Article 2
PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH VOLUME. Article 3
Untitled Article 4
ST. JOHN'S LODGE, BOLTON. Article 6
THE MYSTIC CRAFT. Article 8
KLOSS'S MASONIC BIBLIOGRAPHY. Article 9
THE RUNES.* Article 10
A LECTURE ON THE ANTIQUITY OF LAYING CORNER STONES WITH RELIGIOUS AND MYSTICAL CEREMONIES.* Article 12
RIGHTS AND TENETS OF THE ESSENES. Article 17
OLD ST. PAUL'S. Article 19
THE WAKEFIELD NEW MASONIC HALL. Article 21
BOOKS AND BOOKS. Article 24
MASONIC ADDRESS. Article 27
WANTED—A WIFE! Article 29
THE YORK FABRIC ROLLS. Article 30
VINOVIUM. Article 32
" ONCE UPON A TIME." Article 34
ENCHANTMENT. Article 35
A SERMON Article 36
THE LONDON COMPANIES. Article 40
THE END OF THE PLAY. Article 41
THE STORY OF ARDEN OF FAVERSHAM. Article 42
MASONIC AND GENERAL ARCHAEOLOGIA. Article 45
TRURO: Article 49
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Page 19

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Old St. Paul's.

OLD ST . PAUL'S .

BT AN OLD MASON . THOSE of our readers who have pored over Dugdale , or lingered with Stow , or have perused Mr . William Longman ' s "Three Cathedrals , " will well know how very interesting is the history of our great city cathedrals . And as weas Freemasonsseem to have a special connection with Sir

Chris-, , topher Wren ancl the old Lodge of St . Paul ' s , I have long been wishful to put before the readers of the "Masonic Magazine a short , lucid , and connected history of the great building , without too much of a demand either on their patience or their time . In the Antiquary for June appears a very able lecture on this very subject by Edmund B . Ferrey , Esq ., before the St . Paul's Ecclesiastical Societyand

, as it seems in a remarkable way to combine the conditions ancl requirements I alluded to above , I extract from it those portions which serve to keep the history clearly ancl consecutively before us . To all students of Ecclesiastical Architectural History such a " resume " of facts is invaluable .

During the time of Bishop Mellitus , A . D . 603 , the first Cathedral was built by Ethelbert King of Kent , on the site of a Temple of Diana . This was destroyed in William the Conqueror ' s reign , though there may have been more than one Saxon structure , as such were easily damaged . In 1083 Bishop Maurice began , in Dugdale's words , "the foundations of a most magnificent pile—namely , all the body of tho Church with the north and south cross aisles . So stately and beautiful was it that it was worthily numbered among the most famous buiidings , tho vault or undercroft being of such extent , and the upper structure so large , that it was sufficient to contain a vast number of people . "

The nave of Old St . Paul ' s was somewhat like the grand Norman naves now existing at Ely , Peterborough , aud Norwich , where the triforinm is almost as wide as the nave arches under it , as we commouly find in early buildings in England . But ou the Continent , after the Romanesque period , the triforium never became a leading feature . I have little doubt the plan then consisted of nave and aisles , transepts , a short constructional choir with apsethe choir proper being principally under the tower—and a presbytery and sanctuary east of the same . There was also most probably a flat ceiling , as at Peterborough Cathedral oriinallyand still at Walthiun Abbey .

g , The succeeding Bishop , Richard do Belmeis ( about A . D . 1100 ) , is said to have spent on the fabric much out of his private means , but Dugdale does not particularise what portion of the work he executed . The vaulting to the nave was probably of wood , and carried out at a later date ( i . e ., about 125 ( 5 ) , when the ( l ying buttresses were added , and the clerestory windows renewed , as shown in a painting of the time of James I . in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries at Burlington House . In 1135 the first year of King Stephen's reignthe Cathedral was greatldamaged b

, , y y fire . In 1221 , Dugdale says , / 'I now return to the fabric , but principally the east part , the body of the church with the cross aisles being perfected long before , as is evident from the undercroft whereon it stood . " In this year the Early English steeple seems to have been finished . The Norman transepts , however , were not entirely pulled down , but cased , through not so completely as the Winchester Cathedral , where the Perpendicular arches encompass the Norman of the nave . The spire , according to Wren ' s calculation , was fifty feet

higher than that at Salisbury . Stow and Dugdale make it out even higher still . The table of the principal dimensions of the Cathedral , said by Dugdale to have been inscribed on a tablet hung up in the church in 1312 , do not seem accurate , as I shall show further on . A great rise of twelve steps led up to the choir , and six steps further eastward led u into the processioual path . These were necessitated , no doubt , by the existence of the No man crypt , which probably was never destroyed , though the building above it was rebuilt in the thirteenth century . In 1240 the choir was completed , Roger Niger being Bishop . His name , as also that of Bishop Maurice , ought to be identified with the Cathedral of which they were so great bene .

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