Relief of Saint Paulinus, c.1150
/Relief of Saint Paulinus
c. 1150
December 18, 2021
A Caen stone high relief of a Romanesque bishop once adorning the West Facade possibly depicts St Paulinus.
The material and style indicated the relief is perhaps contemporary with the Caen stone rebuilding of the West Facade c.1150.
The figure holds either a staff or a bishop’s crozier and is dressed in Roman attire. Arnold (1998) identified that the figure is depicted standing on a sloping platform, possibly a representation of the shrine to Paulinus that was constructed within the Cathedral behind the High Altar at the end of the eleventh century. At this time it is recorded that Bishop Gundulf moved the remains of the then-two principal saints of Rochester, Paulinus and Ithamar.
The figure can be identified in early engraving of the West Facade as situated on the northernost tower, although it had been moved to this position during an 18th century remodelling. It would have likely resided opposite an effigy of St Ithamar, although no trace of this remains. Placed prominently flanking the Great West Doors. the figures would have advertised the presence of the shrines within.
The relief was removed along with a Romanesque capital during restoration of the West Facade in 1888. For a time, it resided in a recess in the eastern aisle of the North Quire Transept known as the Warner Chapel.
A notch is cut in two pieces in the position of the right arm, in which a crudely worked replacement piece was glued for some time, probably during its repositioning on the West Facade. The original arm may have been raised in benediction and hence weathered rapidly or was broken.
During its time in the Warner Chapel, the relief still appears to have been an occasional spiritual focus, with VV graffiti marks now found on the stone ledge on which the statue stood at this time. It was removed in the 1980s and placed horizontally on the stone coffin in the south-east bay of the Presbytery until it was placed on exhibition in the Cathedral Crypt in 2019. It can currently be seen in the Big History exhibition.
