SOME IMPORTANT MATERIALS
Previous reconstructions: Adam Lee (c.1820-30) and Maurice Hastings (1955)
BEFORE WYATT'S INTERVENTIONS, 1800
J. Topham, Some Account of the Collegiate Chapel of St Stephen, Westminster, London,
1795
Published by the Society of Antiquaries, this giant volume of plates (with
commentaries) was based on drawings by the antiquary John Carter. It is a careful
record, made before features were lost in Wyatt's restoration (to accommodate
Irish MPs), but also before new features were revealed at that time. C's drawings
are in the British Library, including colour notes: BL, MS Add. 29930, fols 99r132v; MS Add. 29943, fols 67r - 71v
AFTER WYATT'S INTERVENTIONS, 1800
J. T. Smith, Antiquities of Westminster; The Old Palace; St. Stephen’s Chapel, (Now the
House of Commons) &c. &c., Containing Two Hundred and Forty-six Engravings of
Topographical Objects, of which One Hundred and Twenty-two no longer Remain, London,
1807
Smith recorded the fabric that was discovered and then quickly destroyed in
1800, so he is an eyewitness. He was very interested in the paintings, and painted
decoration.
J. Topham, Plans, Elevations, Sections and Specimens of the Architecture and Ornaments of
[...] St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, London, 1795; with added plates, and text by H.
Englefield, 1811
The Society of Antiquaries updated Topham's volume in the light of discoveries
made during Wyatt's work. This included a new elevation of the eastern bay on
the north side, a very important record.
Richard Smirke drew the paintings for the Society of Antiquaries (drawings
survive at Ants, as do reconstructions of parts of the east wall). Actual paintings
survive in the British Museum.
AFTER THE FIRE OF 1834
E. W. Brayley and J. Britton, The History of the Ancient Palace and Late Houses of
Parliament at Westminster: Embracing Accounts and Illustrations of St. Stephen’s Chapel,
and its Cloisters, Westminster Hall, The Court of Requests, the Painted Chamber, &c. &c.,
London, 1836
This volume took advantage of the damage done by the fire to include plates of
newly accessible fabric. For our purposes, too, there are useful views of the west
porch/vestibule.
F. Mackenzie, The Architectural Antiquities of the Collegiate Chapel of St. Stephen,
Westminster, The Late House of Commons: Drawn from actual survey and
admeasurements made by direction of the commissioners of her majesty’s woods and
works, &c. accompanied by observations on the original and perfect state of the building,
and a description of the plates, London 1844
Mackenzie was a trained architectural draughtsman, so reliable for the parts that
he could see; but wildly fanciful about lost parts of the building. His commentary
distinguishes between the two. To be handled with care!
UPPER CHAPEL
Things for which we have little or no evidence
Lower chapel: porch and west doorway; the two bays at E end
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).
Exterior
Overall: Hollar print (mid-C17), and C16 drawing. 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?); Mackenzie 1844, pl. ? (with care, and for lower parts
only, to be read against commentary)
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.
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, I think, at
PoW. Also drawings at Ants?
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.
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)
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).
North and south: maybe blank? Or St Paul’s ch ho., as Hastings 1955
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)
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: Hollar or earlier view, John Carter
6. Prints and gilding, BM pieces
7. Craftsmen and women (Katherine faber): TNA accounts
8. Music (ask EB)
9. Alura, chapel of pew and painted chamber?
10. Glass. Use J T Smith illustration as basis for discussion of accounts etc.
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 south-east, and move east. Possibly enter from
north-west corner (depending on what date we think this is)?
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'
Also a tile, now in Museum of London
Door at west end, south wall
View from north-west?
Walls and windows
Focus on the two adjacent windows on the south side, west end
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).
Sketches for vault rib patterns, in BL, Add MS 29930, f.105v
Altar complex
Statue of St Mary, by altar: ?
Walls and vault shafts
Carter section: Topham, pl. VII
East wall
The location of these is secure. We will, need to invent the tracery.
Topham, pl. VI
?North door and vestibule
?Entrance: Brayley and Britton
HOTSPOTS
1. Vault bosses: four tile pattern: 2 St Stephens, 2 St Margarets
2. Glass, sIV, tracery?
3. Screen, perhaps Westwell, Kent?
4. Views of interiors later: speaker’s dining room (doors); as lumber room;
being redecorated (Illustrated London News)
5. Burials: ask EB
6. Statue BVM, as patronal image