On the Lady Chapel in Chester Cathedral

The Lady Chapel of the Cathedral of Chester has long been known to antiquarian architects as an interesting and valuable specimen of the Early English style, but it has scarcely ever been examined in detail by them, and to the general observer has presented no features of special interest.  The keen and accurate judgment of Rickman discovered the general beauty of its proportions; but the destruction of all the original windows, and other disfigurements of the building, which took place when the side aisles were added in the 15th century, have served so far to obscure its beauties, that it has been supposed to possess little or nothing worthy of observation. It is now undergoing restoration, as far as circumstances admit of it; and the chromatic decoration of the interior has been entrusted to the care of Mr. Octavius Hudson, whose works at Salisbury and elsewhere have established him as an artist of the first rank in this special department.  The beauty and high finish of his work have attracted general admiration, and awakened a new interest in the structure and composition of the Lady Chapel itself.  On this account I am induced to think that some remarks upon the history of Lady Chapels in general, and of our own in particular, will not be inappropriate to the purposes of the Chester Archæological Society.

I think it fair to state in my own defence, if the information which I am able to give shall appear to be meagre and imperfect, that, when I entered upon the subject I had hoped to meet with some materials elucidating the origin, uses, and characteristics of Lady Chapels, which I have failed to discover.  I have not been able to find that the subject has been specially investigated, or that the history of Lady Chapels, as separate from that of Cathedrals, has ever been traced up to its source.  I believe it to be a yet unexplored mine of antiquarian lore, and one well worthy of the labour of the ecclesiastical archæologist.  But, for myself, having neither leisure nor opportunity to explore it thoroughly, I must be content to give such few and simple elements of the history as I have been able to glean out of the few books within reach.

It is well known that all the European nations, from the earliest introduction of Christianity among them, have directed their most solemn worship towards the East,—a custom which we may clearly trace to the course which the progress of the Gospel took in its advance through Europe, arising from the East, and going on still towards the West, and thus realizing to each nation the Scriptural promise of the “rising of the Sun of Righteousness with healing on his wings.”  The hope, also, of the re-appearing of the Saviour has always been directed towards the East; and as that hope was of a very vivid and energetic character in the earlier times of the Church, it gave further strength to the habit of addressing their devoutest aspirations in that direction.  As soon as the acknowledgment of Christianity by the Empire admitted of the erection of public buildings for the celebration of divine worship, the system of Orientation was introduced into them.  The altar was placed in or near the eastern extremity of every church: all the higher ceremonies of religion, and especially the administration of the Lord’s Supper, were celebrated there; and thither the eyes and thoughts of the congregation were directed as to the place of sacredness and honour.  For a long period the eastern part of the churches was especially held sacred to the name and honour of Jesus Christ.  But when the worship of the Virgin Mary began to assume the prominence which it has ever since held in the Romish Church, and to eclipse that of our Lord himself, it was usually celebrated in the eastern portion of the church; and, as if to give to it more special honour, the recess or chapel at the eastern extremity, adopted from the holy place of the Temple at Jerusalem, was appropriated to it.  And a still further eastern end was frequently thrown out from the original structure, where the worship of the Virgin might be specially celebrated; where her statues, and shrines, and offerings might be placed; and to which not only the gaze of the people in the choir, but of the officiating priest himself as he stood before the high altar, might be constantly directed.  Thus, according to the quaint remark of Fuller, a gradation of reverence was established—“The porch said to the church-yard, and the church said to the porch, and the chancel said to the church, and the Lady Chapel said to them all: ‘Stand further off, I am holier than thou.’”