Jesus altar archway, 13th century
/Tim Tatton-Brown reports on some small-scale archaeological investigations in August 2000 in advance of the production of the fresco in the eastern archway of the greater North Transept. Featured in The Friends of Rochester Cathedral Annual Report for 1999-2000.
These were in two parts: (a) the recording of the largely rubble masonry of the east wall in the large niche behind the former Jesus altar, and (b) a small excavation in the floor, immediately to the west of the altar step, to locate any post-medieval brick burial vaults. The stripping of the later 19th- and 20th- century plaster from the wall, and the digging of a small sondage was undertaken by Dave Baker, who acts in everything but name as the cathedral's clerk-of-works. I am most grateful to him and to John Bowen, who has made a drawn record of the discoveries.
The east wall of the niche behind the Jesus altar Sir Willam St. John Hope irst pointed out that the principal altar in the large niche on the east sidle of the greater nonth transept in the late Middle Ages us the Jesus altar. The evidence for this came from late 15th and early 147. century wills which place the jesus altar near the north door. The altar is al, referred to as the 'Rode auter' (Rood altar) as well as the altar of the Crucifix. and in 1503 there is a reference to the 'payntyng of the Rode lofte, There can be little doubt that this is correct, and the stripping of the plaster has also shown. that in the later 15th century a deeper niche around and above the earlier altar was filled in with large chalk blocks and rubble, and at the same time two large corbels of Kentish Ragstone were inserted into the filling of the niche on either side'. These were almost certainly for the large horizontal Rood beam, which would have been removed in 1548, at the time of the Protestant Reformation under Edward VI (the Holy Cross altar beneath would have been destroyed at the same time). In the upper central part of the rubble filling there are some small iron fixings, and these may have been for the crucifix itself.
In most Medieval cathedrals and great churches, the altar of the Holy Cross, with the Rood loft above, was situated at the extreme east end of the nave, so Rochester is unusual in having it in the north transept. In the 12th and 13th centuries the Holy Cross altar at Rochester may have been at the east end of the nave, but this has yet to be proved'. We can be certain, however, that in the later Middle Ages it was the altar of St. Nicholas that was situated at the east end of the nave, and that this was a parochial altar until the new church of St. Nicholas was completed in 1423, in the lay cemetery (called Green Church Haw) immediately to the north of the cathedral.
Elaborate Rood lofts of the early 16th century usually required access via a passage or stair, and it is just possible that the large rectangular hole, in the upper southern part of the wall (now filled with later 19th-century rubble and a monument fixing), started out as an access passage to the Rood lift. However, this would have meant that the south-west corner of Gundulf's tower (immediately adjacent to this area) would have been cut away, and there are no obvious signs of this in the Wax Chamber area, immediately to the east.
Before the later 15th-century rubble infilling was put into the inner part of the niche, this whole area was a fine mid-13th-century altar recess on the east side of the north Transept. The dedication of the altar at this time is not known, but it could just possibly have already been the Jesus or Holy Cross altar. The stripping of the paster has clearly shown that there was originally a wide asymmetrical, obtuse-headed and moulded arch here that supported the rubble work of the upper wall. The voussoirs were all removed when the later 15th-century infilling took place, but the springing blocks (of Reigate stone) at the extreme north end were left in place, and this shows clearly the start of the moulded arch. On the south side the area was complicated try the chore proximity of the south-west pilaster to Gundalfs tenner, and an area of atle. masonry was built up here that also contained the piscina for the altar. The vertical north side of this ashlar masonry still has an original charder on is against which the later 15th-century rubble masonry abutts. Higher up, this 13th-century work was perhaps cut away when the corbel block was inserted.
The niche for this piscina, which had Purbeck marble moulded capitals and shafts, was later multilated, and had its hood mould hacked off, This Piscina and the niche must have been built at the same time as the rest of the greater North Transept at Rochester Cathedral, The whole transept has much fine Purbeck marble shafting, and probably dates to the 1240s or 1250'. It was perhaps just being completed, in 1256, when Bishop Laurence of St. Martin went to Rome to obtain the canonisation of St. William of Perth'. The main north doorway to the transept was subsequently called St. William's doorway, though there seems to be no evidence that it was so named in the Medieval period.
The rubble work of the east wall of the niche is, therefore, mostly either of the later 15th-century (the lower part) or of the mid-13th-century (upper part. It is noticeable that the 13th-century masonry contains much Ragstone rubble and within it a sequence of putlog holes (for scaffolding) can be seen. Some chalk block is also used here, but this is different from the larger chalk blocks in the 15th-century infill. Cutting into this rubble work are the scars for two much later wall-monuments. In the centre was the roughly rectangular shape of the fixings for the monument to Dr. Augustine Caesar (see below). It was moved to the south wall of the north choir aisle in March 1973, and the holes in the rubble work were filled with 'Fletton' bricks (these have now been removed). Some other holes were also filled with cement at the same time. Higher up the wall on the south side is another rectangular area, infilled with later material. As already mentioned, this could originally have been a doorway into the Rood loft. The present fill, however, is now entirely of 19th-century date. When the plaster was first removed a facing layer of roofing tiles was found, which were above an area of buff stock bricks. Behind the tiles was a large stone, set in cement, which had a very shallow four-centred recess set into it. This is presumably the fixing for a later 19th-century wall monument, but what this monument was, or when it was moved, has yet to be discovered.
One other monumental slab, which was formerly attached to the wall-face at the bottom on the north side, should also be mentioned. This has now been moved, and though originally made to lie in a floor, it had been in this position since at least the late 19th-century. It is well described by St. John Hope as "the casement of a brass 3ft B%in, square arranged lozengewise, a most unusual arrangement'". On it was a brass of a priest in mass vestments surrounded by four kneeing figures with scrolls. Above the priest is a representation of the Three Persons of the Trinity seated on a throne. Around the margins was an inscription with symbols of the four evangelists in the corners. In style it is later 15th-century.
In the area in front of the wall just described is a plain paved post-medieval floor, and a Purbeck marble step up to the former altar dais. The floor was clearly relaid in the later 19th-century restoration, but in it is a series of leger stones in the North Transept proper. One leger, however, runs east-west on the site of the Jesus altar itself, and on it is inscribed:
NON REX MEDICUS JACIT HOC SUB MARMORE CASAR
GLORIA PAONIA GENTIS ET ARTIS HONOS
HIPPOCRATES CASAR . . ? TANDE OSSA DEDERE JAM MEDICINA VALE TU QUE VIATOR OBI:
This clearly relates to the burial place of Dr. Augustine Caesar, whose monument was, until 1973, immediately over this slab. The monument itself has on it a long and rather overblown inscription in Latin and Greek, which tells how he came, saw and conquered diseases invincible to others, and calls on fevers and all human ills to exult now that their great foe has passed away in a happy death, and is a Caesar, enrolled among the gods. It is also known that he got his M.D. from Oxford in 1660, after a petition in which he explained that it was 'to escape oaths contrary to his loyalty', that he had forborne to take it 'during the late troubles*?., Dr. Caesar died in December 1677, and payment of £3 for 'breaking the ground in the body of the cathedral for the body of Dr. Caesar' in 10th December is recorded". The monument is pictured on the back cover of this Report.
Some time after this a brick burial vault was made for him and his family on the Jesus altar site, and it was the west side of this vault, which was uncovered in August 2000. The inscribed slab mentioned above was found to be supported by brick arches on its north and south sides, and the vault itself was large enough to contain three coffins side by side. Only two very rotted coffins were seen within the vault, and they must be those of Dr. Caesar (on the south) and his wife. Her burial on 27th June 1694 is also recorded", as is the payment by "Madam Caesar' of £2 for her mother, Mrs. Pymm's burial on 2nd June 16831.
This also records 'and linnen agnst ye Act of Parliament for buryal in Woollen £2 10s. 10d'. Mrs. Margaret Pymm's leger stone can still be seen nearby with her date of death, 20th March 1683.
The monument to Dr. Caesar, which is of good quality London work", must have been erected at about the same time as the vault was made, perhaps in 1683, as this is the incorrect date of Dr. Caesar's death, inscribed on the monument. This monument was first noticed by Lord Harley in 1723, when he was on a tour of England".
The Caesar burial vault seems to have been broken into in the later 19th. century, perhaps during the restoration of the floor and altar step (now set with hard cement), and at this time part of the skeleton of Dr. Caesar was interfered with. His rotting wooden coffin was also partly disturbed, but that of his wife alongside is much more crushed and damaged.
Immediately to the west of the altar step, the corners of two more brick burial. vaults were also uncovered, one to the north and one to the south. The northern burial vault, for the Nicholson family, is a massively built structure of the early 19th-century, and it must contain many coffins". The southern and earlier vault has an east-west brick barrel-vault over it (below the leger slab), but only the extreme north-east corner has been exposed. Both these vaults must have been entered from the west.
It should also perhaps be recorded that the Jesus chapel area was flooded, from above (a fire main pipe) on 20th august 1969. No obvious traces of this flood are visible today, however.
Tim Tatton-Brown
H. St. John Hope, The architectural history of the cathedral church and monastery of St.
Andrew at Rochester' Arch.Cant. 23 (1878), 289-291.
Ibid.
The tooling on the Ragstone corbels suggest a later 15th-century date.
It should be noted that one of the greatest bishops of Rochester, Gundulf, was buried by Archbishop Anselm 'before the altar of the crucifix' in March 1108. See B. L. Cotton MS.
Nero A8, f. 80. Was this in the nave?
Elsewhere in the transept these flat chamfers end with a bar-stop.
There is also much 19th-century cement repair here. The original stone used was Reigate The main north doorway has affinities with the 'royal' doorways at Westminster and at Winchester, see H. M. Colvin (ed.), The History of the King's Works I (1963), 125-6.
B. L. Cotton Ms. Nero D.2..164.
As recorded in the Chapter Minutes.
It is only a centimetre or so deep. All the roofing tile facing has now been removed.
Hope (note 1), 292.
G. H. Palmer, The Cathedral Church of Rochester (1897), 78.
DRc/FTb/14.
The nave and transept floors of Rochester Cathedral were much disturbed in the Commonwealth period by the making of saw-pits, etc.
Most of the existing paving Is,
therefore, late 17th-century or later. The paving in the Jesus altar area, above the Purbeck marble step, was first laid in c. 1683.
The medieval floor-level here was, perhaps, at least six
inches higher.
18
15. DR/FIn/29.
DRO/FTb/19.
See notes by Dr. John Physick in the Friends Annual Report for 1998-9, 37-8.
See V. J. Torr's record of this in Arch.Cant. 57 (1944), 63.
As recorded on the leger slab above it.
WALL PAINTING
Wall painting can
•hich the support is
the structure itself _ whether a free canding him: eLect
DRo/FIn/29.
DRO/FTb/19.
See notes by Dr. John Physick in the Friends Annual Report for 1998-9, 37-8.
18.
See V. J. Torr's record of this in Arch.Cant. 57 (1944), 63.
19. As recorded on the leger slab above it.
The Friends of Rochester Cathedral were founded to help finance the maintenance of the fabric and grounds. The Friends’ annual reports have become a trove of articles on the fabric and history of the cathedral.
Piecing together the thousands of architectural components and evidence from excavations and other sources informing the architectural history of the site.
