VSS ST STEPHEN'S CHAPEL
MINUTES
A meeting held at HRC on Thursday 24 July 2014, at 9.30am
Present: Tim Ayers. Elizabeth Biggs, Pat Gibbs, Louise Hampson, James Hillson,
Anthony Masinton
1. Introduction to Materials.
The status of sources (list submitted with agenda) was discussed. It was agreed
that JH should supply a set of images from Mackenzie's book to AM and TA, for
use in the reconstruction, and to be added to the resources on the website. It was
agreed that TA should enquire about acquiring a set of images from the Society
of Antiquaries, of work by John Carter and Richard Smirke. The drawings of John
Wykeham Archer would also be useful (BL).
2. Models and Modes of Presentation.
- There was discussion of ways to denote levels of certainty visually: AM to
experiment. It was agreed to combine a developing block model (over time),
from a fixed position, with movement through the building at the three agreed
fixed points in time.
- We discussed how to indicate hotspots. Some, in the eastern bay of the upper
chapel, could by accessed from fixed points in the reconstruction of this bay;
others will require other kinds of prompts (music etc).
- We discussed how to indicate the construction of the chapel before 1360, the
first fixed point. Perhaps from the outside, and from the east?
- It was agreed to include a figure(s), for scale.
3. Sources.
The value of the various sources was reviewed for the different parts of the
medieval upper and lower chapels (see annotated copy of the list, following).
4. Next Stages.
- AM will begin work in mid-August and will post renderings on the website for
discussion.
- Issues requiring wider discussion, involving other scholars, were suggested:
west end; east window; side-window tracery; roof + vault + clerestory; sculpture
locations. Meetings for this to be planned at next VSS meeting.
[- Other projects employing digital reconstruction, such as that for the lost
Sainte-Chapelle in Dijon, will be consulted. TA]
5. Date of Next Meetings.
VSS: Mon, 1 Sept 2014, at HRC, 9.30am
Skype, with AM: Weds, 24 Sept 2014, at HRC, 2.00pm
TA 12viii14
UPPER CHAPEL
Things for which we have little or no evidence
Lower chapel: porch and west doorway; windows and doors in the two bays at E
end; polychromy (except Purbeck marble shafts)
Upper chapel: everything above the height of the porch/vestibule, outside. West
wall inside, and its decoration; western bays to N and S, and their decoration;
window tracery of side walls; screen and stalls; clerestory and vault. The loss of a
whole storey to the upper chapel (the clerestory) is a major gap in our
knowledge.
How to move through it:
Enter from the west, via the porch/vestibule, showing parts that are recorded.
Enter, looking east, towards the screen, and enter the choir, to look to east wall,
and eastern bays on north and south sides. Possibly focus on the entrance from
the alura (south side). Possibly move through it to Painted Chamber?
Exterior
Overall: Hollar print (mid-C17), and C16 drawing (TA to send copy to AM). These
are the best (but far from resolved) evidence for the clerestory and roof pitch.
South side: Topham 1811, pl. V; Mackenzie 1844, pl. ? (with care, and for lower
parts only, to be read against commentary)
East front: Topham 1811, pl. VI (also Smith 1807, added plate: does JH have this
from Borthwick copy? - in BL online catalogue, says JH); Mackenzie 1844, pl. ?
(with care, and for lower parts only, to be read against commentary)
Generally, see Colvin, H.M. (ed), 'Views of the Old Palace of Westminster',
Architectural History Vol. 9, 1966, pp. 23-184 (esp. pls. 91-100). On JStor
Plan
Topham 1795/1811, pl. III; Mackenzie 1844, pl. ?
Porch/Vestibule
Use Brayley and Britton 1836, pls XI, XVI, XXIX. Also views of this from west and
of doorways in Mackenzie 1844.
Floor
Purbeck marble, according to accounts, presumably with steps at entry to choir
and altar
Models and sources: ask ECN? Westminster Abbey; copy undercroft pavement
(described in Mackenzie 1844)
Screen
Uncertain form and media. Models and sources, in wood: Winchester cathedral;
Ely cathedral, by William Hurley, carpenter at St Stephen's
Clerestory, Vault, Roof
We know about roof structure, but very little about the clerestory and timber
vault. This is a question to explore visually, on the basis of the known roof
timbers and the visual evidence for the clerestorey and roof pitch. Maybe consult
Dan Miles; Sophie Dentzer.
Model timber vaults: St Albans, late C13; Winchester College, late C14; York
Minster, nave vault, mid-C14.
Model stone vaults: lierne vault (Windsor cloister etc, Gloucester south transept
and choir); fan vault (Gloucester, cloister)
Walls
Architectural forms can be reconstructed most accurately in the eastern bay to
north and south. The rest is more conjectural, so we may wish to consider
indicating as such.
Models and sources, overall: Topham 1811, pl. IX, XV (Topham 1811, pl. VII is
less accurate for the overall organization of the wall); Mackenzie 1844, pl. ?.
For details: Smith 1807, opp. p. 155, for lower cornice design;
Topham 1811, pl. VIII (bases); pl. X (parts of main window arch
and shafting); pl. XI (lower cornice); pls XII-XIII (upper cornice and
shields)
Mackenzie 1844, pls. ?
Painting
Again, the best evidence is for the eastern bay. We will need to differentiate
between what we know, and what is surmise. A general impression is given in
Adam Lee's otherwise quite fanciful reconstruction of the interior, of c.1820-30.
TA to send copy to AM
East wall: Lower parts: Smith 1807, opp.. pp. 153, 248-50; Topham 1811, pl. XVIXVII. Large-scale reconstruction at Soc. Ants. (also Smirke drawings, preparatory
to the illustrations).
South side, eastern bay, wall arcade, with angels: Smith 1807, opp. p. 153;
Topham 1811, pl. XVIII. There is also a large reconstruction in colour, by E W
Tristram, at PoW. Also drawings at Ants by Richard Smirke. TA to try to get
copies, in due course.
North and south sides, eastern bays, area below windows (Tobit, Job): Smith
1807, opp.. p. 153; Topham 1811, pl. XIX; surviving pieces in BM
North and south sides, window splays, knights: Smith 1807, opp. p. 244
Walls: gilding and paint. Carter notes; surviving pieces in BM
Walls, cornices, heraldry and other: Smith 1807, opp. pp. 234-5, 237; Topham
1811, pls XI-XIII; surviving pieces in BM
Carter annotations to BL drawings include colour notes
Sculpture and tabernacles
The building incorporated sculpture externally, including Edward the Confessor
and St John the Evangelist, probably on the east wall, perhaps in the niches on
either side of the great east window. Perhaps use the surviving medieval group
on the south side of the south transept in Westminster Abbey.
Inside, there were tabernacles between the windows on either side, with high
canopies, but also at least two more flanking the east window.
There are also recorded images of St Stephen (patronal image), angels, kings
(including perhaps Edward the Confessor again) and other figures (JH has list)
Models and sources: headless figures in the choir at Edington, mid-C14; late C14
kings from Westminster Hall; more to do on finding suitable images and designs
for tabernacles... (Beverley, Howden, Patrington, York Minster: sculptor is
William of Patrington) Also Gloucester cathedral, south transept
John Wykeham Archer drawings, for east wall (BL)
For the reredos, consider the screen-like vestibule at the west end of St Stephen's
and perhaps the Neville screen at Durham.
Windows
East: The odd hipped form to the window is certain. The tracery is not certain,
however. The rose form in Hastings 1955 is a possibility, based on early prints.
Although these contradict each other, the circular form is attractive because the
window is represented as an 'eye' in an early modern polemical source (CHECK.
JJ to confirm). Consider the south window in St Anselm's chapel, Canterbury
Cathedral, which was designed by Thomas of Canterbury, master mason at St
Stephen's from 1320s to 1330s.
North and south: maybe blank? Or St Paul’s ch ho., as Hastings 1955? To discuss
further, perhaps with Christopher Wilson.
West: Don’t show this, as we know little about it. Or copy the east window,
indicating uncertainty.
Stained glass
The format is unknown (narrative, single figures?), although Smith recorded
some pieces of grounds, borders etc. Perhaps leave blank, and make a hotspot of
these?
Models and sources: Ely Cathedral, Lady Chapel (2nd 1/4 C14); Edington, Wilts.
(3rd 1/4 C14); Gloucester east window (3rd 1/4 C14); York Minster, displaced
panels (narrative and figures)
Furnishings
Need to return to liturgical equipment, books, fabrics. EB has a list of books and a
ref. to vestments
Alura, chapel of Or Lady at Pew
This connected the chapel on the south side with the painted chamber,
presumably on two storeys (the painted chamber is on the first floor). We know
about it mostly from the accounts. The chapel of Our Lady at Pew is recorded on
this side; it had a devotional image.
Some indicative suggestion of these? Hotspot?
HOTSPOTS
1. East wall paintings of Edward III: Antiquaries drawings and/or paintings
2. Tobit or Job: BM paintings
3. Knights Eustace and Mercurius: Antiquaries’ drawings
4. Sculpture: John Wykeham Archer
5. Exterior views, perhaps from east: V&A anonymous
6. Prints and gilding, BM pieces
7. Craftsmen and women (Katherine faber): TNA accounts
8. Music (ask EB). A recording exists (JH to inform TA of details). LH suggests
Sixteen, with whom C&C have good relations
9. Alura, chapel of pew and painted chamber?
10. Glass. Use J T Smith illustration as basis for discussion of accounts etc.
11. Mason who is murdered by the monks of Westminster in 1320s
12. Vestments. Documentary evidence
13. Stalls and William Edington (as treasurer)
14. Adam Lee's picture
LOWER CHAPEL
The best evidence is that supplied by John Carter, before Wyatt's restorations, in
Topham 1795/1811.
Start at the west end, pointing towards south doorway, and move east.
Porch
No knowledge, replaced with two round-arched openings by the time of the
earliest visual records.
Plan
Topham, pl. II
Floor
Purbeck marble, at lowest archaeological level: Mackenzie 1844, p. 5: 'the
original pavement [...] is 4ft 3 in below the present floor: it is of Purbeck marble,
in pieces 1 foot square, laid diagonally, with a straight border six inches wide
between the piers, close to the stone seats'. But a/cs of 1340s say tiles were
bought and installed...
Also a tile, now in Museum of London
Door at west end, south wall
View from north-west?
Walls and windows
Polychromy with marble vault shafts. Focus on the two adjacent windows on the
south side, west end: Topham 1795 and Mackenzie 1844
Screen
Topham pl. VII (side view); John Carter, BL Add. 29930, f.114r.
Vault
Carter plan: Topham, pl. II.
For mouldings use modern ones (JH has digital versions, kindly offers to supply).
Sketches for vault rib patterns, in BL, Add MS 29930, f.105v
Altar complex
Statue of St Mary, by altar: ? Perhaps use the free-standing alabaster of Virgin
and Child from Flawford, Notts (see Age of Chivalry). TA to investigate a possible
photographer.
Walls and vault shafts
Carter section: Topham, pl. VII
Door to vestry on N side in E bay of choir; probably also door to NE stair turret,
in angle.
East wall
The location of these windows is secure. We will, need to invent the tracery.
Topham, pl. VI
HOTSPOTS
1. Vault bosses: four, in pairs, of St Stephen, St Margaret. In each case, one
from Carter's engravings and one of their present state
2. [Glass, sIV, tracery?]
3. Screen, perhaps Westwell, Kent? JH to supply pics to AM
4. Views of interiors later: speaker’s dining room (doors in Smith 1807); as
lumber room; being redecorated (Illustrated London News). Consult
Rosemary Hill and PoW about other possible sources, and the best views?
5. Burials: ask EB. Bishop Lindwood was buried in the ?N wall
6. Statue BVM, as patronal image. Consult Richard Marks and Philippa
Turner?
7. Font: functions and jurisdiction